The Blooming of a New Flower
by Temari101
Summary: Kaoru is slowly falling in love with his twin, but doesn’t want to admit it because he thinks it’s wrong. And now because of Kaoru’s actions Hikaru feels they are drifting apart. Will Kaoru ever admit his feelings? And whats with this maid Rose? Kao/Hika
1. The Dream

The Hitachiin twins were on their way home from school in their limo. They had a big day hosting and were really tired. Tamaki had made them dress up as knights for at least the fifth time though, so the twins had been pretty bored. "Why can't that stupid king think of some new things to dress up as?" Hikaru asked his identical twin angrily. Kaoru shrugged.

"He never did have that big of an imagination. Besides, Kyoya is the one that thinks up the outfits," he told him. Hikaru sighed.

"Well hosting is going to be pretty boring until those two think up of something new to do," he said. Kaoru nodded in agreement.

Hikaru and Kaoru got home a few minutes later. They got out of their limo and rushed up the front steps of their mansion. They went and changed out of their school uniforms, and then went and played some video games. Hikaru sat on the couch playing their handheld game as Kaoru stood behind him giving his tips on what to do. Soon one of the maids found them and told them that dinner was done. Hikaru threw the hand held game aside and got up. "It better be something good," he mumbled.

"If it's not we can always order in," Kaoru told him with a smile.

"I guess," he said. "At least that way we can eat in our room." Kaoru nodded and followed Hikaru into the dining room. They ate their dinner without complaining. The twins didn't really want to eat the food though, but they decided after they sat down that they were too lazy to call in for something.

After playing a few more video games and watching some TV it was time for bed. Hikaru used the bathroom first, and then Kaoru went in. When Kaoru was down he found Hikaru was already asleep. Kaoru sighed and got into the bed. He watched his older twin sleep for a bit before closing his eyes and falling asleep himself.

****

_Kaoru woke up to someone breathing in his ear. When he opened his eyes Hikaru was on top of him. "Hikaru, is something wrong?" Kaoru asked his heart starting to pound. Hikaru lifted his head and looked Kaoru in the eyes._

"_No, nothing's wrong," he said with a smile._

"_Then why are you on top of me like this?" Kaoru asked. Hikaru lowered his head so that his lips were almost touching Kaoru's and Kaoru's heart started to beat faster._

"_I wanted to tell you something," he said. Kaoru blushed as their lips almost brushed. He could feel Hikaru's warm breath on his face._

"_Then why didn't you wait until breakfast to tell me, instead of waking me up like this?" Kaoru asked him. He turned his head away from Hikaru's, but Hikaru put his hand on Kaoru's face and forced him to look at him. Kaoru's blush grew._

"_I didn't think telling you something like this at the breakfast table was appropriate," he told him with a frown._

"_W-Well then what did you want to tell me? I-I'm up now," Kaoru told him. He was getting nervous and couldn't stop staring at his brothers lips. Hikaru smiled and lifted his head up away from Kaoru's. Kaoru looked into Hikaru's eyes._

"_I wanted to tell you that I-"_

_Kaoru couldn't hear the rest of the sentence. He couldn't hear anything. It was like the whole world had been put on mute. "You wanted to tell me what, Hikaru?" Kaoru asked. His voice was the only thing he could hear. He looked at Hikaru's mouth to see if he could read his lips, but Hikaru's mouth was gone. Kaoru's eyes went wide. "Hikaru?" he asked, but Hikaru was disappearing. Kaoru could no longer feel Hikaru's soft hand on his face. He was vanishing, his body was fading away. Kaoru started to cry. "H-Hikaru, w-what's going on?" he asked. "Don't go!" But it was no use. All that was left of Hikaru was his head. He's eyes were smiling at Kaoru but he didn't understand how Hikaru could be so happy. Kaoru reached out to grab Hikaru's head, but he was floating away and Kaoru couldn't reach him. All Kaoru could do was watch his twin brother float away. He was headed to the light and leaving Kaoru behind._

_Kaoru burst into tears. "Hikaru where are you going, don't leave me! What did you want to tell me?" he yelled at him. But soon Hikaru was gone, and so was the light. Kaoru was now alone and surrounded by darkness. He stood up and tried to run in the direction his brother had gone, but as soon as he took one step he started falling. He was falling into a dark black hole, and had no idea where it went. He reached out for something to grab onto, but there was nothing. It was like jumping from and air plane with no parachute. There was nothing to grab onto, nothing to break his fall, and nothing to slow him down. He yelled out for Hikaru again as he fell farther into the darkness, but he couldn't even hear his own voice now. Kaoru wondered if he would ever be saved._


	2. Good Morning

Kaoru woke up his heart pounding. He was breathing hard and sweating, it felt like he had been running for a very long time. When he finally slowed his heartbeat he looked around. He was on the floor. He looked up at his twin brother who was still fast asleep. Kaoru guessed that Hikaru had kicked him out of the bed during the night, which was odd. Hikaru never kicked Kaoru out of the bed before, except for when they stayed at the commoners hotel Haruhi was working at, but that was because it was a singular bed. Hikaru had never kicked him off their bed. Kaoru looked at the time, it was only three in the morning and they had school in a few hours, he sighed and stood up. "Well I'm not going to be falling back to sleep now," he mumbled to himself and went to go take a shower.

Kaoru went back into his and his brothers' bedroom and looked at the time again. Only half an hour had past. He was already fully dressed and ready for school, and didn't know what to do for the rest of the time. It wasn't that he didn't want to go back to sleep, it was just that Hikaru was taking up most of the bed, and he didn't want to risk having another dream like the one he just had. He sat down on one of the chairs they had in their room that was off to the side. _How could I dream something like that? How could I think about Hikaru that way? We're brothers, twins!_ Kaoru thought this to himself as he watched Hikaru sleep. _What was that dream supposed to mean anyways? What was Hikaru trying to say? What did I want him to say? Why did he leave me?_ Kaoru sighed and picked up a handheld game that was on the floor in front of the chair. They had these games all over the house, and never knew what game was in them until they turned it on. Kaoru turned on the game and found it was one of the more fun ones they had and he started to play.

After a few hours, light started to come through the window of the bedroom. Hikaru moved in the bed, and closed his eyes tighter because of the light hitting his face. After a few seconds a maid came into the room. "Master Hitachiin, it's time to get up. You'll be late for school," she told him. Hikaru let out a sigh and sat up.

"Where's Kaoru?" he asked finally noticing his twin wasn't there.

"The other master is already up," the maid told him as he got up and she made the bed. Hikaru noticed Kaoru sitting on a chair playing one of their games and went over to him.

"Since when do you get up early?" Hikaru asked leaning over the back of the chair and Kaoru's shoulder watching him play the game. Kaoru put the game on pause and looked at his brother.

"Since you kicked me off the bed last night," he told him.

"Did I really?" Hikaru asked. "I don't remember doing that."

"That's because you were asleep when you did it," Kaoru told him with a sighed. "I've been up since three." Hikaru frowned and went a little closer to his brothers' face looking into his eyes.

"I'm sorry," he said. Kaoru blushed a little and turned away to hide it.

"Just don't do it again," Kaoru tried to say like he was angry, but it came out more quiet and shy. Hikaru smirked and backed away from Kaoru.

"Well I'll be ready soon," he said disappearing into the bathroom.

A few minutes later Hikaru came out of the bathroom and saw Kaoru still playing their game. "Hey Kaoru," he said a little annoyed. Kaoru turned off the game and looked over at him.

"What?" he asked with a sigh. A blush went across Kaoru's face. His older twin was in just a towel and had water dripping off of him.

"Do you know where my uniform is?" Hikaru asked looking around. "I can't find it."

"Uh, it's over there," Kaoru said pointing at their bed not taking his eyes off his twin. "The maid just laid it out."

"Oh, thanks," Hikaru said going over to the bed. Kaoru watched him walk over to it and pick up the uniform. Then he turned to him. "What are you staring at me for?" Hikaru asked. Kaoru turned away his heart was beating fast now.

"I um," he said trying to slow his heart down again. If Hikaru hadn't notice him staring at him, he probably wouldn't have been able to control himself and would have watched him get dress.

Just then another maid came into the room. Hikaru and Kaoru turned to her. "Your breakfast is done masters," she said with a smile.

"Yeah, we'll be down soon," Hikaru told her. The maid nodded and left the room. Hikaru turned back to Kaoru who was still trying to clam himself. "You can go, I'll finish changing and then come," he told him. Kaoru nodded thinking that this would be a good idea, and hurried out of the room.

He got downstairs and sat at the table. _What's happening to me? I couldn't stop staring at him! He's my brother! My twin brother at that! I can't be acting like this, or thinking about him the way I do! It's just not right!_ Kaoru rested his elbows on the table and put his face in his hands. He didn't know what was going on with him lately. He'd been thinking about his brother in ways he shouldn't be, and his dreams had been getting weirder and weirder every night. He didn't know what was causing it, but he knew it had to stop. He couldn't think about Hikaru like that anymore. They were brothers and he should be thinking of him as a brother, and nothing else.

Hikaru came down a few minutes later. "Hey, it's rude to put your elbows on the table," Hikaru said jokingly as he walked by and knocked Kaoru's arms down.

"I'm just tired," Kaoru told him looking up. Hikaru was now sitting across the table from him.

"Well then why didn't you go back to sleep?" Hikaru asked grabbing some toast and eggs to put on his plate.

"Because you were taking up the whole bed," Kaoru told him, and this time it actually sounded like he was angry. Hikaru stuffed some bacon into his mouth and shrugged. Kaoru took a piece of toast, he wasn't too hungry.

"You could have pushed me over, or just lay on top of me, or something," Hikaru told him when he had finished chewing and swallowing. Kaoru's eyes went wide and he almost spit out his milk as some images passed through his mind and his heart started to pound.

"N-No, that wouldn't have been nice," he told him. Hikaru gave him a confused look.

"Are you ok, you've been acting funny this morning," he said. Kaoru shook the images from his head.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine," he said taking a deep breath and then finishing his milk. "Well we should get going, or we'll be late for school."

"But I'm not done yet," Hikaru told him. Kaoru didn't pay attention to what his older brother said. He just headed for the front door. Hikaru sighed, finished his bacon, and took a piece of toast to eat on the way.


	3. A Silly Fight

When the twins got to school they took their usual seats on either side of Haruhi. "Good morning Haruhi," they said together with a smile.

"Good morning," she said. "And how was your night?"

"Hikaru kicked me off the bed, so I've been awake since three," Kaoru told her.

"Are you still mad about that?" Hikaru asked. "I mean you could have just came back in the bed like I said and went back to sleep."

"I didn't want to wake you," Kaoru told him.

"It wouldn't have mattered, I would have been able to fall back asleep," he told him standing up and leaning over Haruhi's desk.

"But I didn't want you to get mad at me," Kaoru said doing the same as his twin.

"I told you I wouldn't have!" Hikaru yelled.

"Ok, that's enough!" Haruhi yelled at them standing up and pushing them away from each other. The class looked at Haruhi and the twins. "Must you two fight over something silly like this?" she asked. "That's really strange for you two." Hikaru crossed his arms and sat back down in his seat.

"Whatever," he said. Kaoru looked at his twin for a few seconds with a sad expression on his face, and then sat down slowly.

The class burst into an uproar of conversation about the twins fighting. "Poor Kaoru, he looks sad,"  
"The Hitachiin twins don't fight often, something really bad must have happened between them,"  
"I wonder what that fight was about. I wasn't paying attention until Haruhi yelled,"  
"Does this mean that they won't be doing any hosting today?"  
"I wonder when they'll make up."

Kaoru sighed, put his elbow on his desk, and rested his chin on his fist. He didn't mean to make his brother angry, and he felt really bad about it. Soon without realizing is, Kaoru started glancing at his twin out of the corner of his eyes every few seconds. Hikaru just sat there with his arms crossed and his back to Kaoru. He didn't know why his twin had brought this up, and it made him angry. He said sorry, and he didn't know he pushed him off after all. But Kaoru had been acting strange all morning, and didn't want to tell him why. That also angered Hikaru. After all they shared everything, and told each other everything that was going on with them. But now he felt like Kaoru was trying to distance himself from him. He let out a soft sigh and put his head and arms down on his desk.

After class was over Hikaru quickly put away his things and got up. He started heading for the door, but Haruhi grabbed his wrist and stopped him. "Aren't you going to wait for Kaoru?" she asked. He looked at Kaoru and then at her.

"No," he said breaking free of her grasp.

"Ok, something is really wrong here," Haruhi said. "What happened? You were fine yesterday." Hikaru shrugged and headed for the door. "Kaoru, what's wrong?" Haruhi asked. Kaoru opened his mouth to say something, but Hikaru cut in.

"I wouldn't waste your time asking him if I were you. He won't tell you anything, and he's been acting really weird. He'll probably just tell you it's nothing. That's what he said to me when I asked anyways," he told her. He gave a little glare to Kaoru, and then left the room angrily.

Soon school was over and it was time to open the host club, but there was on little problem. Hikaru and Kaoru refused to talk to each other. Hikaru was sitting on the couch, and Kaoru was sitting at a table as far away as possible from Hikaru. "Well we can't open the Host Club with those two like this. It would seriously lower our profits without the 'brotherly love' option," Kyoya said as he looked at his clip board.

"Just send their customers to me," Tamaki told him. "I'll treat them the way a lady should be treated." Kyoya shook his head.

"The reason their customers come is because they want what they offer. In other words they aren't into you type of serves," he told him. Tamaki didn't say anything. He just went and gloomed in the corner.

"We need to get them back together," Hunny said. "What do you think we should do Takashi?" Mori didn't say anything.

"Anyways, if worse comes to worse we can just add the money we're losing onto Haruhi's debt," Kyoya said.

"Why, I didn't do anything to start this!" Haruhi yelled.

"Yes, but you are with them most of the day. So you should have been able to fix this problem by now," he told her. Haruhi turned away from Kyoya trying to keep her anger bottled up. She was scared that he would do something else if she got mad at him. She noticed that girls had stared banging on the doors, and were shouting to get let in. Kyoya sighed, and Tamaki came back over to him.

"Well it doesn't matter if those two are fighting. We can't let those poor ladies wait any longer. It wouldn't be very gentlemen like of us," he told him. Kyoya nodded and Tamaki went to go open the doors.

"In any case, you better fix this problem soon, Haruhi, before I start adding to your debt," Kyoya told her with a smile that was almost evil, and Haruhi shivered.

Once Tamaki had opened the doors, the ladies rushed in. The ones that usually came to see Kaoru and Hikaru were split. Both twins had their own little group around them, and the girls were asking lots of questions. Kaoru wasn't really paying attention though. He was too busy daydreaming and staring at Hikaru who was smiling and seemed to be having a good time without him."You really miss him don't you? Even though it's only been a few hours," Haruhi said with a smile as she walked up to Kaoru. Kaoru blinked and looked up at her.

"Don't you have costumers to attend to?" he asked.

"Don't you? You've been sitting here for a while ignoring these nice young ladies while staring at Hikaru," she said. The girls around Kaoru started to talk.

"Awe, poor Kaoru,"  
"Why don't you go over and talk to Hikaru?"  
"You should go and try to make up,"  
"We'll help you." Kaoru sighed.

"Alright," he said standing up and walking over to his brother with the girls following him.

Kaoru got to Hikaru and patted him on the shoulder. Hikaru looked up at him. "We should talk," Kaoru said.

"I think you're right," Hikaru agreed. The girls gasped.

"I'm sorry," Kaoru said dropping his head.

"Why are you apologising?" Hikaru asked. "I should be the one saying sorry." He grabbed his twin's jacket and pulled him down so that their faces were almost touching. "Kaoru," he whispered. Kaoru blushed and his eyes went wide. All the girls around them, even the ones that never usually came to see them, squealed happily. Hikaru smiled and let go of Kaoru. "Let's not fight again. It was really lonely without you," he said. Kaoru nodded and sat down by his brother. Soon they were laughing and having fun like the fight had never happened. Kyoya went over to Haruhi and smiled.

"I don't know what you did, but it seems to have worked," he told her. "You're off the hook this time." Haruhi sighed and watched as the Hitachiin's entertained their guests.


	4. Madness

Soon it was time to close the club for the day. The Host Club said goodbye to their guest, even though they weren't ready to leave just yet, and closed the doors. Then the Host Club sat down to have a meeting before going their separate ways. "We got more profits than usual today," Kyoya said happily looking at his clip board. "It was probably because of that fighting/making up act the Hitachiin's did."

"It was an act?" Haruhi asked looking at the twins.

"For cores it was, the whole fight was obviously made up," they told her together. This was obviously not true. They really had been fighting, but they didn't think anyone needed to know. Kaoru let out a quiet little sigh. Now that they said it was an act Hikaru would probably pretend it was to avoid actually saying sorry and talking about it. Kaoru could tell that what Hikaru had said to him earlier was the truth, but it seemed more like one of their little acts then an apology and he wished that he could get a real apology from his older brother for once.

"So I got all worked up about it for nothing?" Haruhi asked.

"Haruhi, you were worried about us?" Hikaru asked with a smile. Kaoru got a sick feeling seeing his brother smile at Haruhi like that. Kaoru hated when he did that, Hikaru had never given a real smile to anyone but him before Haruhi came. But now he was giving real smiles like that to Haruhi lots and it really bugged Kaoru. He knew that it was selfish to think that his older brother should only smile at him, but for some reason he couldn't help it.

"No, I was worried about Kyoya raising my dept," Haruhi told him crossing her arms. Hikaru and Kaoru shrugged.

"We had to make you get involved to help with the making up part," Hikaru told her. "Getting Kyoya to threaten to raise your dept was the only way you would come and talk to one of us about it." Haruhi glared at Kyoya.

"You knew?" she asked.

"I had no idea that their fight was fake, but when I went to talk to Hikaru about it he told me to raise your dept. He said if I told I was going to then you'd try to do something about them and they'd think about apologising," he told her. She looked at Hikaru.

"We just needed help with the act," he said.

"Did you even know about Hikaru telling Kyoya that?" she asked looking at Kaoru. Kaoru shook his head. He really didn't know about Hikaru saying that to Kyoya, and he was kind of shocked. Hikaru obviously didn't want to take the first move in apologising, so he thought of a way to get Kaoru to do it. He had tricked Kyoya, Haruhi, and Kaoru just so he wouldn't have to apologies first.

Kaoru clenched his fist. He was getting really mad at Hikaru. But he was also jealous at the same time. Actually Kaoru was confused about what he was feeling. Part of it was anger, because Hikaru didn't want to take the first step in apologising. Another part of it was jealousy, because Hikaru not only smiled at Haruhi a lot, but also got her involved in a lot of their personal things. And another part was lo- No. Kaoru couldn't think like that. He couldn't continue having his thoughts run away like that. He couldn't have his feelings towards Hikaru run like that. Hikaru was his brother. He refused to have that type of feeling for him. Because if he did have it, then he wouldn't be feeling mad and jealous, he would be having a different feeling towards him. He'd be having one feeling for his brother, and that was wrong. He was mad and a little jealous. Not really jealous, because if he was really jealous it would support that other feeling. Or maybe he was just upset. Not mad or jealous at all. Whatever it was, it defiantly wasn't the feeling he was about to consider. It couldn't be. He wouldn't let it be, because it was wrong to think of his twin like that. No one would accept him if it was thatfeeling. And no matter how much Kaoru knew it was that type of feeling. No matter how much he knew deep down that it was _that_. No matter how much he wished he could say it was _that_, he just wouldn't.

Kaoru hid his face as a tear rolled down it, and he unclenched his fist to wipe it away. Hikaru looked over at him. "Are you ok Kaoru?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said. Hikaru's expression turned to anger.

"See, this is what started the fight in the first place! What are you trying to do by not telling me anything anymore?!" he yelled standing up.

"Tama-chan, their going to start fighting again," Hunny said clutching Usa-chan. Tamaki stood and put a hand on Hikaru's shoulder.

"I'm sure we can solve this problem between brothers without having a fight. It's just horrible to see you two like this," he told him. Hikaru turned to Tamaki and glared at him.

"This doesn't concern you, King," he said in cold voice. Tamaki let go of Hikaru's shoulder and backed away slowly. Then he went into a crouching position in the corner. Hunny stood up on a chair.

"There is only one thing left to do now," he said. "Takashi, enable operation 'Brotherly love'!" Mori nodded and he and Hunny both grabbed a Hitachiin.

Soon Hikaru and Kaoru were both tied to chairs sitting across from each other with a mini tea party set in front of them. "Now you two can have a nice happy conversation while eating cake," Hunny said cheerfully. He was very proud of his plan.

"There is only one problem," Hikaru told him. Hunny looked at him confused. "You tied us up, how are we supposed to eat cake or be happy?!" he yelled at him. Tiers filled Hunny's eyes.

"Hikaru is a mean!" he yelled balling his eyes out and running away. Mori followed him trying to calm him down.

Haruhi was sitting on a couch looking around. Tamaki was crouched in the corner, Hunny was crying and running around the room with Mori following him trying to calm him with Usa-chan, Hikaru was yelled at the top of his lungs for someone to untie him and Kaoru, and Kyoya was now standing over her talking about how much her dept would increase if the Hitachiin's continued to fight. When Haruhi couldn't stand it anymore she stood up and took at deep breath. "That's enough!" she yelled at them. Tamaki looked up at her, Hunny stopped running and began to rub his eyes as Mori handed him Usa-chan, Hikaru stopped yelling and him and Kaoru looked at her, and Kyoya's eyes widened at the sudden loud noise in his ear. "This is stupid!" she yelled at Hikaru and Kaoru. Kyoya decided to move away from her so he wouldn't lose his hearing in one ear. "Look what you're fighting is doing to everyone! Tamaki is depressed, you made Hunny cry and Mori have to chase him, Kyoya is scared of losing money, I'm getting more in dept, and you two and miserable! Now I want you both to go home and fix this!" Hikaru and Kaoru looked at each other.

"We're kind of tied up here," Hikaru told her. Haruhi sighed angrily.

"Hunny, Mori, untie them so they can go home," she said. Hunny and Mori nodded and did as she said. Hikaru opened his mouth to say something, but Haruhi stopped him. "I don't want to hear it, just go!" she yelled at him pointing to the door. He closed his mouth and headed angrily for the door Kaoru right behind him with his head hung sulking.


	5. A Real Apology

Hikaru and Kaoru sat in the back seat of the limo beside each other not saying anything. Hikaru was staring out the window avoiding looking at Kaoru. But Kaoru looked and his older brother and sighed. Hikaru finally turned and looked at him when he heard this. It was about the fifth sigh since they got in the limo. "Well you stop that. You're so annoy," he told him angrily and then looked back out the window. Kaoru looked at his twin shocked. Hikaru had never called Kaoru annoying before. In fact, he had never said anything bad about him even when they were fighting. Kaoru finally looked away from his brother and to the floor. The limo was very quiet. Usually the two of them would be joking around to make the trip home less boring.

They got home a few minutes later and walked up to the house together. When they opened the doors and went in one of the younger maids that was about their age greeted them. Hikaru and Kaoru always wondered how someone as young as her had got a job at their house and why she wasn't in school, but they never asked about it. "Welcome home Hitachiin's," she said with a smile.

"Yeah, thanks, uh..." Hikaru trailed off. He always forgot the names of their workers. He and Kaoru would usually thank them at the same time and Hikaru would follow Kaoru's lead so it would look like he knew who he was talking to. Kaoru looked up at the maid.

"Rose," he said with a little fake smile. Her smile grew.

"Thank you for always remembering everyone's names, master Kaoru," she said. "Oh, and your dinner will be ready in an hour." With that she walked away and disappeared around a corner.

Hikaru turned and looked at Kaoru. "Why did you do that?" he asked.

"Because it would have been rude to have her think we had no idea who we were talking to," Kaoru told him.

"_We_ weren't talking to her. _I_ was talking to her," he told him. "You made me look like an idiot."

"Well you would have looked like an idiot anyways because you didn't know her name," Kaoru blurted out without thinking. He covered his mouth and looked away to the floor.

"Whatever," Hikaru said turning his back to his little brother as he clenched his fist. It was all he could do to stop himself from trying to hit him. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if he did that. "I'm going to go take a bath," He said storming off up the stairs.

Kaoru stood there for a few minutes not moving. He covered his eyes with his hair. He hated Hikaru being mad at him, but he didn't know what else he could do. He just couldn't tell him what was going on, and if that made him mad then so be it. Kaoru hopped that Hikaru would get over this eventually, but until then he was going to have to put up with him being mad. Kaoru finally looked up from the floor and saw that a few of the maids had stopped to look at him. "Are you ok master Kaoru?" Rose asked. Kaoru nodded and raced for the stairs. "You know if something is wrong, you can tell me!" she yelled after him. "I'll listen!" Kaoru just gave her another fake smile and headed to his and Hikaru's room.

Hikaru went quickly to his and Kaoru's room to get a pair of pyjama pants to change into. Then he raced to one of the bathrooms at the end of the hall. He did this to make sure Kaoru had a hard time following him if he was looking for him. He opened the door to the bathroom, and then closed it quickly and locked it. When he got a good look that the bathroom he noticed it was one of the smaller ones in the house. It had a small one person bath and shower that didn't even have jets in it. He sighed. It looked like Haruhi's commoner's bathroom, and it was probably one of the ones the workers that were staying overnight used. Hikaru went over to the bathtub and turned on the water. Then he got undressed, and when the water was at the right height he turned the tap off and got in.

Hikaru socked in the tub for about half an hour before it started to cool off too much. He got out and drained the tub. Then he dried off and put the pyjama pants on. He gathered up his clothes, left the bathroom, and looked around. No one was in the hallway. He carried his clothes to the door of his and Kaoru's room, and then just doped them beside it. One of the maids would pick them up to wash them for tomorrow's school day anyways. He turned to open the door to their room, but stopped when he heard a voice calling him. He turned and saw it was the maid from earlier. "Master Hikaru!" she yelled running up to him.

"What do you want...?" Hikaru trailed off. He thought about the maids name for a second. "Rose?" he asked. Rose smiled at him and nodded.

"I'm happy you remembered my name," she said. Hikaru didn't say anything, he just gave her a 'yeah, and what did you want?' look. "Oh, right," she said. "I was just wondering why you would throw your clothes on the floor there instead of putting them in the laundry basket."

"Well they need to be washed anyways. Someone will see them when they walk by and go wash them," he told her getting a little annoyed that this maid was questioning her employer. _Who does she think she is anyways? And why is she so young? Shouldn't she be in school? She is kind of cute though, and about mine and Kaoru's age. Mom and dad do usually pick good workers. _Hikaru shook these thoughts out of his head and glanced at a clock that was hanging up on the hallway wall. There was half an hour before supper. He looked back at the maid.

"Is something wrong master Hikaru?" Rose asked. "You and Kaoru are acting different today." Hikaru gave her an annoyed work.

"Why do you care what's going on? You're just a maid here. What's going on with me and my brother isn't anyone's business. Here," he said picking up his clothes. "Isn't it your job to take care of these? If not give them to the person's whose job it is."

"As you wish master, I'm sorry for bothering you," Rose said bowing to him and heading quickly down the hallway. _What's with that girl?_

Kaoru sat on one of the chairs in his and Hikaru's room. He felt a little lonely, but was happy at the same time that Hikaru wasn't there. At least with him gone there wouldn't be another fight. Kaoru's phone rang from inside his pocket, and he took it out. It was Haruhi. He answered. "Hello?"  
"Hey, how are you and Hikaru doing?" Kaoru didn't say anything. "Still fighting then?"  
"Yeah, he got mad at me again when we got home."  
"Why?"  
"Because he didn't remember one of the maids' names, so I said it and made him look like an idiot."  
"Shouldn't he be happy though because you saved him from looking like he didn't know her?"  
"Yeah, well you know Hikaru..."  
"Ok, well you guys better make up soon. I got to go, bye." Haruhi hung up.

Kaoru sat there playing one of the games on his phone until he heard the bedroom door opening. He put his phone away and saw Hikaru coming in. Hikaru looked over at him. "I just came to get my phone I left on the dresser," he told him going over to the dresser. Kaoru watched his older brother, but he was mostly just staring at his bare upper body. Hikaru turned back to Kaoru. "What are you staring at?" he asked.

"Nothing," Kaoru said looking away to the floor. Hikaru slammed his hand on the dresser he was standing by. Kaoru jumped and looked back at his brother, but at his angry face this time.

"Seriously Kaoru, what's wrong with you lately? You don't want to tell me anything! You're really pissing me off! Do you want me to be mad at you? Do you want me to not talk to you, to just leave you all by yourself? Are you trying to push me away? We always tell each other everything! Why won't you tell me wants wrong?" Hikaru asked not realising he was yelling at the top of his lungs or that he had a tear rolling down his face. But Kaoru noticed all this. He noticed his brother was angry and hurt. He noticed that his brother was actually on the edge of hitting him and was trying hard not to.

Seeing his brother like this made Kaoru want to cry and just blurt out what he thought was going on with him. But that was the problem. He didn't know for sure what the problem was. He _thought_ he was angry with Hikaru and a little jealous of Haruhi. But then there was something else that he was avoiding considering, something that he pushed to the back of his mind every time it came up because he thought that it was wrong, and that it wasn't really that. So Kaoru just looked up at his older brother with tears in his eyes. "I-I don't know what's wrong, I'm sorry," he told Hikaru. The tears started to roll down his face now. "I really wish I could tell you, and have you not mad at me anymore. But I can't because I don't know," he said turning away from his brother, so he was sitting sideways on the chair, as he hid his face in his hands.

Kaoru felt a hand pat him lightly on the shoulder. He looked up and saw his brother was standing over him now.

"Why didn't you say that in the first place instead of saying it was nothing? You made me feel like you were hiding something from me," Hikaru told him. He was talking in a soft voice now.

"Because I didn't want to worry you by saying I didn't know," he told him. Kaoru felt Hikaru's arms wrap around him. Hikaru was now hugging Kaoru from behind.

"Don't you think that would have been better than making me mad though?" Hikaru asked as he put his face in the space between Kaoru's neck and right shoulder. Kaoru's heart began to race and he got butterflies in his stomach.

"I-I guess," he said trying to calm himself and make his voice sound less nervous. He wasn't crying anymore at least. "I-I just don't want you to worry," he told him. Hikaru let go of his little brother now and stood up straight. Kaoru leaned back in the chair to look at him. Hikaru had a smile on his face.

"Then how about this. You start telling me everything again, and if you tell me not to worry I'll only worry a little bit. But I won't act on it innless I need to," he told him.

"But that's what we were doing before," he said with a slight frown.

"Exactly," he said. "Everything was fine the way we were before you decided to not tell me something."

"Alright," Kaoru said. "It's a deal."

"Good," Hikaru said leaning down and giving Kaoru a small kiss on the forehead. "Now let's go down to dinner." Kaoru nodded, and a small blush went across his face as his brother turned to go to the door.


	6. The Maid Named Rose

Hikaru and Kaoru walked down the hallways to the dining room joking around and acting like their fight that day had never happened. Kaoru felt good that his older brother wasn't mad at him anymore and that things could go back to the way they were. As the two brothers walked down the hallway, occasionally pushing each other slightly and laughing, they came to the maid Rose. "Good evening Hitachiin brothers. I'm glad to see you two aren't fighting anymore," she said with a smile.

"Hey Rose, how are you?" Hikaru and Kaoru asked together. They usually wouldn't really talk to their workers, but Rose was very interesting to them. There were so many questions they had about her that were unanswered, and they wanted to get the answers out of her without having to asking them. So in a way, they had turned getting the answers out of her into a game. It had started a few days ago when the twins noticed Rose had started turning up everywhere they went in the house.

"I'm fine, I'm trying to find the lady that does laundry," Rose said looking around. Hikaru looked down and noticed that she was still holding the uniform that he forced into her hands earlier when she had made him angry. Kaoru looked up at Hikaru.

"Aren't those yours?" he asked. Hikaru didn't say anything to his brother.

"Well take them to the launder room if you don't know where she is," Hikaru told Rose.

"Oh no, I can't, I'd get lost finding it," she told him. Hikaru and Kaoru looked at each other a little confused, and then back at the maid.

"Well then take it back to our room and put it on the floor. The maid that washes our clothes doesn't come to get them until we're asleep, so they're fresh in the morning," they told her together. Rose smiled at them.

"Good idea, thank you," she said bowing and racing back up the hallway the twins had just came from.

Hikaru watched Rose walk quickly away until Kaoru nudged him in the side. He snapped his head away from her over to his brother. "Interesting, isn't she?" Kaoru asked. Hikaru shrugged.

"Yeah, kind of I guess," he said as they started walking back towards the dining room.

"Well you seem very interested in her," Kaoru said looking away from his older brother to the floor.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Hikaru asked getting a little mad.

"Do you like her?" Kaoru asked. Hikaru hated when he did that, he just couldn't stand it when people answered his question with more questions.

"Why, does it matter if I do or not?" Hikaru asked, doing the same thing he hated other people doing. Kaoru looked up at Hikaru with big sad eyes and Hikaru had to look away. He couldn't handle it when Kaoru gave him those eyes, it made him feel like he said something wrong and hurt him.

"So you do like her?" Kaoru asked. Hikaru shook his head.

"She's a maid, Kaoru, I'd never like a worker in that way, and I wouldn't even like one as a friend. Worker and employer relationships are forbidden in a family like ours. Besides, she's more like an object to help us pass the time. You have a bunch of questions about her too, don't you?" he asked him. Kaoru's eyes seemed to go happier, and a small smile went across his face.

"Ok," he said. "And of cores I have a bunch of questions about her." Hikaru smiled too, and he and Kaoru continued to discuss the maid and all the questions that had come up about her as they walked to the dining room.

When they got to the dining room, the twins were greeted with their favourite types of foods. There was an assortment for Italian foods and spicy foods spread out across the table. Hikaru and Kaoru looked at each other and then at the cooks and people that had set the table. "Alright, what's going on here?" the twins asked together. Their workers never go through the trouble for making everything they liked.

"W-We just thought that you two were having a bad day. S-So we all pitched in and made your favourites to help cheer you up," one of the cooks told them. Hikaru and Kaoru shrugged.

"Thank you," they said as they sat down at the table to eat.

When the twins were done there was still half the food on the table. They had eaten their favourites out of the Italian foods, and the things that were the spiciest. They stood up, pushed their chairs in, and headed for the door to head back to their room. When they reached the door one of the cooks came out and stopped them. "So do you want us to just throw the rest out?" he asked. Hikaru and Kaoru turned to him.

"Yeah, innless someone else wants it. The things that are left we didn't touch at all and it seems a waste to throw it out, doesn't it?" they asked him. The cook smiled.

"I'll see if any of the workers want some diner. Thank you masters Hitachiin," he said bowing. Hikaru and Kaoru nodded at him, left the room, and headed back to their room.

As the twins headed to their room they ran into Rose again. She looked a little lost, so they went over to her. "Hello Rose," they said at the same time.

"Oh, good evening masters Hitachiin," she said with a smile.

"What are you up to now?" they asked her playing their 'get some answers out of Rose without asking directly' game.

"I was going back to the main floor entrance room, but I got lost," she told them. Hikaru and Kaoru looked at each other. They were thinking the same thing. _What kind of maid gets lost in the house she works in?_

"Well, would you like us to show you the way back?" Hikaru asked her. Rose's smile grew.

"I would like that very much, thank you," she told him. Kaoru caught Hikaru blush a little, but didn't say anything about it. He just sighed softly as jealousy grew inside him. Kaoru didn't even know why he was feeling jealous. _Rose is just a kind maid that needs some help, that's all. Hikaru is helping her because she seems lost. Besides, we wouldn't be good employers if we didn't help out our workers when they needed it, right? Hikaru even told me that he only thinks of her as a game to pass the time, so why am I feeling like this?_ Kaoru forced a smile towards Rose.

"Follow us then. We'll have you back at the entrance room in no time," he told her. She nodded and followed the twins back down the hallway they had just come from.

They walked quietly for a few seconds before Hikaru broke the silence. "So, why are you going back to the entrance room?" he asked Rose.

"I need to go home, and I only know how to get to the workers door from there," she told him as she started to walk beside him. Kaoru gave her an angry look for a second for walking beside his older brother, but looked away quickly so she couldn't see it. "That's where my mother is waiting for me too," she told them. Kaoru and Hikaru looked at each other, and then at Rose curiously.

"Your mom?" they asked. Rose nodded.

"My mother got me the job here so I could make some money as I'm out of school," she told them. "Did you think I got this job myself?" she asked giggling a little. Hikaru and Kaoru looked at each other again. She had just answered they're biggest questions about her.

"But why did you want to be a maid?" Hikaru and Kaoru asked forgetting the rules of the game they were playing. They had just asked her a question directly, which meant they lost their own game. But of cores they could say that they had already won the game, because she answered their main questions, and it didn't matter that they had just asked directly. That was the best thing about making up your own games. You could bend the rules anyway you wanted.

"I didn't want to be a maid," Rose told them. "It was the only job I could get as I visited my mother in Japan."

"You're visiting your mom?" the twins asked. Rose nodded as they went down the stairs to the entrance room.

"Thank you very much, masters Hitachiin," she said bowing to them. Then she ran into another room at the other end of the room they were in.

The twins headed back to their bedroom. It was almost time for their favourite TV program and Kaoru still needed to take a shower. "Did you ever notice Rose seems to have a hard time speaking Japanese, and she has a slight accent?" Hikaru asked his younger brother. Kaoru nodded, he had noticed once Rose started talking to them more as they were bringing her to the entrance room. "I noticed the accent a little the first time I talked to her. But I didn't notice that she was having a hard time speaking Japanese until we were talking to her about the laundry," Hikaru told him. Kaoru started to feel jealous again. _Was Hikaru really paying that much attention to Rose that he noticed all this before I did? Hikaru would never pay that much attention to notice something like that that before me innless he really liked the person. Is he lying to me about liking Rose?_ Kaoru shook these thoughts out of his head. _We just had a fight about lying to each other. Hikaru wouldn't start lying after he just got mad at me for doing it. Besides, we just got over a fight a few weeks ago about Haruhi too, and agreed to not let girls get in the way of our relationship like that again._ "Kaoru, you ok?" Hikaru asked as they got into their room and closed the door. Kaoru blinked and looked at his brother.

"I was just thinking about all the things that happened today," he told him. Hikaru gave his brother a hug, and Kaoru buried his face in Hikaru's chest.

"You should just let all those memories of today go. It's not healthy to think about things like that," Hikaru told him. Kaoru nodded slightly and looked up at his older brother.

"Yeah I know. I'll stop thinking about it and just think about the wonderful meal we had, and the show we're going to be watching soon," he told him. Hikaru smiled and let go of Kaoru. "Now, I need to go have a quick shower before the show," Kaoru said.

"What some help?" Hikaru asked jokingly. Kaoru blushed and looked away.

"No it's ok. You already had your shower today, so you can set up the TV and stuff," he told him grabbing his PJ's off the bed and heading for the door to the bathroom attached to their room.

"Ok, I'll see you when you're done then," Hikaru said. Kaoru nodded and went into the bathroom.


	7. A Second Dream

Hikaru and Kaoru watched their TV show quietly. This was the one time they didn't talk until a commercial. They were sitting together on the same chair. Hikaru had insisted that Kaoru sit on his lap for reasons Kaoru didn't know, but he didn't care. He turned a little red when his brother had requested this, and didn't want to at first. But Hikaru kept bugging him, and made Kaoru get redder. He finally agreed to it, and sat down on Hikaru's lap. As soon as Kaoru sat down Hikaru wrapped his arms around his little brother and buried his face into him. Kaoru jumped a little and his heart started pounding. Hikaru breathed in, let out a calm sigh, and then looked up at Kaoru.

"What are you doing?" Kaoru asked during a commercial trying to stay calm. Hikaru had just done the same thing he had done when Kaoru first sat down.

"I just wanted to see the difference between the soap in our bathroom, and the one in the small bathrooms that I used today. I've decided ours is better," he told him.

"Well how can you tell that by me sitting on your lap?" Kaoru asked.

"Because, your skin feels softer," Hikaru told Kaoru as he rubbed his arm. "And you smell nicer." Kaoru blushed. "Anyways, you can get off now," he said jokingly pushing his little brother off him onto the floor. Kaoru looked up at him shocked.

"What was that for?" he asked.

"Well I was done comparing, and you were kind of in the way of me seeing the TV," Hikaru told him. Kaoru gave him another puzzled look. _Would Hikaru have kept me on his lap if I never asked what he was doing? It felt kind of nice sitting there with him like that. I shouldn't have opened my mouth._ Kaoru sighed and stood up. Hikaru looked up at him. "But," he said. "If you want to sit here with me you can, you just need to move out of the way a little." Kaoru blushed again and turned away from his older brother.

"No its ok, I'll sit in my own chair so you have more room," he told him. Hikaru just shrugged and looked back at the TV as their show came on again.

Once their show was over they helped each other with their homework, and then climbed into bed. They laid there with their backs to each other. "Don't kick me off this time," Kaoru said jokingly with a little yawn.

"I'll try not to, and I said I was sorry about last time. I would never kick you off willingly," Hikaru told him. Kaoru sighed, and the room went quiet for a moment. Then Kaoru rolled over and tapped Hikaru on the shoulder. Hikaru rolled over too and face him.

"What?" he asked with a yawn.

"What were you dreaming about last night?" Kaoru asked. Then he realized that this was a weird question to ask and regretted it a little.

"I don't remember, why?" Hikaru asked.

"No reason," Kaoru said closing his eyes.

"You think it's why I kicked you off the bed?" Hikaru asked. Kaoru never said anything. "Because I guess it could have been. But then again you could have had a dream that made you roll off the bed, and you pulled me and the covers with you a little. Then it would just look like I kicked you off," Hikaru told his little brother. Kaoru's eyes shot open and he stared at Hikaru. Hikaru gave him a confused look. "What now?" he asked.

"Oh, I'm just thinking that you might be right about that. I could have had a weird dream, I'm sorry for blaming you without thinking about it," Kaoru said in a sad, sorry voice. Hikaru just smiled.

"Don't worry about it, it's over," he told him closing his eyes. He put an arm around Kaoru. "Go to sleep now," he whispered. Kaoru gave a small smile, got closer to his brother, and closed his eyes too.

****

_Kaoru sat up in the bed and looked around. It was almost pitch black in the room and he could hardly see in front of him. He felt someone move beside him and he looked over. Kaoru could see the outline of a person. He put his hand on the person's soft bare back, and moved it up to the person's hair. It was his brother, Hikaru. Kaoru smiled a little, he felt better knowing that his brother was there with him. He heard Hikaru move again, and saw his outline sit up too. "What are you doing up this early?" Hikaru asked in a tired voice with a yawn._

"_I couldn't sleep," Kaoru found himself saying, not knowing if this was true or not. He felt like he was being forced to say it. Like he had been put into a story and he was the main character being forced to do what the writer made him do. He also felt that in this story something bad was about to happen, and the story was probably going to end in tragedy._

_Kaoru felt his brother come closer to him and put his head on his shoulder. "I know what will make you sleep better," Hikaru told Kaoru moving his face closer his neck. Kaoru's heart raced._

"_W-What's that?" he asked. Hikaru brushed his lips softly on Kaoru's neck, and then moved more so he was sitting on him now. He moved his head so his face was extremely close to Kaoru's. Kaoru blushed fiercely._

"_Well if I tell you something nice, and maybe give you something nice. Then you might sleep better," Hikaru told him. Kaoru blushed more as Hikaru's lips almost touched his as he talked, and his hot breath touched his face._

"_W-what's the nice thing?" Kaoru asked trying hard to not make their lips touch as he talked. Kaoru's heart was pounding madly and it felt like it would burst out of his chest. Hikaru just smiled an evil smile. Kaoru knew what was coming next. But as his older twin brother was about to do what he was going to do next, the door to their room opened._

_Hikaru pulled his face away from Kaoru and stood up. Kaoru looked and saw the shadow of a person in the door where light was flooding in. She was wearing a maid's outfit and seemed to be younger than their other maids. She motioned to Hikaru to come to her, and he nodded and walked towards her. "What Hikaru, where are you going? What were you going to give me?" Kaoru asked in an attempt to get his brother back by his side. Hikaru ignore him though and kept walking._

"_I'll be right there Ro-" Hikaru's voice was cut off, and since it was dark in the room Kaoru couldn't read his brothers lips. Hikaru got closer and closer to the girl in the door and Kaoru tried to get up to stop him. But he couldn't. Kaoru looked down and saw that he was now standing, but it was like his feet were glued to the floor. He tried to open his mouth to shout at Hikaru again, but he found that it was like his mouth had been taped shut._

_Hikaru got to the girl in the door and it looked like he put his arm around her. Kaoru heard the girl giggle, and saw her lean her head on his shoulder. Then they turned around and Hikaru grabbed the door, and pulled it shut. Kaoru was in the pitch black room, and just like in the dream he had before, he started falling. He had just finished the second level of the endless whole, and was falling deeper into it._


	8. Kaoru's Bad Day

Kaoru sat up quickly in his and Hikaru's bed. He was panting and sweating like crazy, images of the dream he just had still flashing through his mind. He tried to stop thinking about it as he slowed his breathing, and hoped his sudden movement didn't wake his older brother. But when he looked down at Hikaru he was staring up at him with a tired and confused look on his face. "What's wrong Kaoru?" he asked yawning and rubbing his eyes.

"Nothing," Kaoru said. "It was just a bad dream, you don't need to worry." Hikaru gave his brother a concerned look and sat up. He wrapped his arms around Kaoru and pulled him into a hug. Kaoru jumped a little and butterflies erupted in his stomach. Hikaru put his head on his twins shoulder and closed his eyes.

"Are you going to tell me what the dream was about?" he asked. Kaoru's heart started to race.

"N-no it's ok really, it wasn't anything that bad," he told Hikaru. Hikaru removed his head from Kaoru's shoulder and looked him in the eyes with concern. Kaoru tried to return his brothers look with one that was more reassuring and calm so he didn't worry. But it didn't work, and instead Kaoru had to look away hoping that Hikaru would let go of him so he could get some distance between them, before he started to think about his brother in a way that would make his situation worse.

Hikaru let go of Kaoru. Kaoru let out a sigh of relief and looked at the time. "I'm going to take a shower. The maids will come in half an hour, you can go back to sleep and get more rest if you want before they get here," he told Hikaru getting out of the bed quickly and rushing to grab his uniform from the closet.

"Don't you want me to come with you?" Hikaru asked in a kind of confused voice. Kaoru shook his head.

"It's ok, get some more sleep," he told him. Hikaru threw the blankets he was under off of him and got out of the bed. He went over to his younger brother.

"But we always bath together, what's with you suddenly not wanting to anymore?" he asked in a very serious voice.

"I-it's not that I don't want to," Kaoru said getting very nervous and turning away from Hikaru. "I-It's just that I think you should get some more sleep." Hikaru sighed and walked back over to the bed.

"Fine I won't come. But when you feel like telling me the truth as to why you don't want to be around me any more come talk to me," he said. Kaoru turned back to face Hikaru.

"I do want to be around you," he told him getting a little annoyed. "It's just that I think you need to get some sleep. If you don't get your full sleeping time then you fall asleep in class-"

"I'm not talking about just right now, or just about us not taking baths together anymore! I'm talking about how even when I try to get close to you for a hug or something you're trying to push me away as fast as you can! It's like you're not comfortable with me getting more than a shoulder length away from you anymore, and even that still seems like it's too close for you!" Hikaru yelled at his younger brother in frustration cutting him off. He just didn't get what was happening to Kaoru.

Kaoru stood there not knowing what to say. He looked at Hikaru, took a deep breath, and opened his mouth to speak. "Is that what you really feel?" he asked Hikaru. Hikaru nodded. "Well none of that's true. I do like and want to be around you, and I'm not trying to push you away. I am comfortable with you. I've just had lots on my mind lately, and thought if you got too close that you would see something was wrong and try to get it out of me. But I guess by not being close to you it back fired on me and now you're mad and want to know even more about what's going on," Kaoru told him giving him a soft smile. "I'm sorry."

Hikaru stood up and went back over to Kaoru. He wrapped his arms around him and gave him another hug. "It's ok," he said. "I'm sorry too for acting like that." He let go of Kaoru and smiled. "So how about that bath?" he asked.

"Sure," Kaoru said turning away and blushing. He was just glad they had a big bathtub.

When the maids entered the Hitachiin twins room to wake them up they found them already fully dressed sitting on their couch and ready for breakfast. The maids quickly made the bed, picked up their pyjamas to wash them, and told them breakfast would be done in a few minutes as they left the room. Hikaru looked at Kaoru and sighed. "This is the down side to getting up early. You can't just get dressed and go straight down to eat, you have to wait for the food to be done," he told him. Kaoru laughed.

"Well I told you that you could stay in bed," he said.

"Yeah, but I didn't want to be alone," Hikaru told him truthfully. Kaoru smiled slightly and stood up.

"So do you want to start going down slowly then?" he asked. "So we don't have to sit here and wait doing nothing?" Hikaru nodded and stood up lazily. Then he followed his younger brother out of the room.

As the twins walked down the hall slowly, to get their breakfast, they saw Rose walking quickly towards them. "Hey Rose," they said as she walked by them. She stopped in her tracks and turned around with a smile on her face.

"Good morning masters Hitachiin," she said walking over to them.

"Where were you going in such a hurry?" they asked her.

"I need to clean," she told them.

"So do the other workers just give you a random job to do that they don't want to do?" Hikaru asked her. She sighed and nodded.

"I must go now, goodbye masters Hitachiin," she said bowing and running back in the direction she was going before.

Hikaru sighed and looked down the hallway, in the direction Rose had just run off, as he and Kaoru started walking again. "Is something wrong, Hikaru?" Kaoru asked his older brother.

"I just really want to know where Rose is from," he said. "I can't figure out that accent." Kaoru laughed.

"She English," he told him. Hikaru stopped and looked at his brother.

"And how would you know that?" he asked.

"Because the maids were talking about her last night during dinner, didn't you hear them?" he asked. Hikaru shook his head and started to walk again.

"I don't listen in on our workers conversations," he said.

"Oh, well she's English and is from England where she lives with her dad," Kaoru told him. Hikaru smiled.

"Do you think she'll help me with my English homework if I ask her?" he asked hoping he could get some time to talk to Rose and learn more about her.

"If you mean do all the work for you," Kaoru said. "I already do that."

"I know, but Rose actually speaks the language fluently. She knows way more of it then we'll ever learn," Hikaru said as they got to the stairs to the main entrance.

"Well I guess you can try and ask her then," Kaoru said with a soft, sad, sigh. Hikaru laughed.

"Maybe I will ask her," he said.

The twins got to school with just enough time to make it to their class. They had eaten breakfast slow and eaten more than normal because they didn't really eat any breakfast the day before and wanted to enjoy it this time. They took their normal seats on either side of Haruhi and said hello to her just as the teacher got in to start the class. Kaoru sat in his seat with his head rested on one hand as he looked blackly in front of him. He would usually be paying attention in class, but he couldn't stop thinking about his dream he just had about Hikaru and Rose. And to make things worse Hikaru wanted to ask Rose if she would help him with his English.

Kaoru sighed and the teacher slammed his hand down on his desk. Kaoru jumped. "You're not falling asleep in my class again, are you Hikaru?!" the teacher asked angrily. Kaoru looked up at him and blinked. "Answer me boy!" The teacher yelled.

"I-I'm Kaoru, Hikaru is over there," Kaoru said pointing at his brother. Everyone looked at Kaoru. It was very rare for anyone to see him sleeping or drifting off during class. So rare in fact that most of them probably thought he was Hikaru and he was lying and getting Kaoru in trouble in the process, and it seemed the teachers thought that too.

"Don't lie to me Hikaru, Kaoru would never act like this in class," the teacher told him. Kaoru opened his mouth to say something to the teacher, but Haruhi cut in front of him.

"Um, excuse me sir," she said. "But the person you're talking to is Kaoru." The teacher looked at her.

"And how, Mr. Fujioka, can you tell that?" the teacher asked. Haruhi sighed and explained to the teacher how she knew. The teacher just looked at her and then back at Kaoru. "Well then I'm very disappointed in you Kaoru, your brothers bad habits are starting to rub off on you," he said. "I'll let you off with a warning since you're a first time offender in my class, but don't let it happen again." Kaoru nodded and the teacher went on with the lesion.

The bell finally rang for the end of the day and Kaoru felt a small part of him feel relieved. He had been drifting in and out of thought all day, and had got in trouble in every class. Haruhi also had to help him defend Hikaru in every class because the teachers all thought that Kaoru was him. Hikaru and Kaoru got up out of their desks at the same time and went over to Haruhi who was putting her things away slowly like usual. "What's gotten into you today Kaoru, you've gotten in trouble in every class for not paying attention," Hikaru said. "And every time I almost got blamed for it."

"I guess I'm just tired today," he told his brother. "I haven't been getting much sleep."

"Is it because of those bad dreams you've been having?" Hikaru asked in a concerned voice.

"What bad dreams?" Haruhi asked butting into the conversation as she stood up.

"Kaoru's been having bad dreams lately," Hikaru told her. Haruhi looked from Hikaru to Kaoru.

"This isn't a stage for your hosting act today, is it?" she asked. Hikaru shook his head and Kaoru didn't say anything he just stood there a little embarrassed that is brother was openly telling Haruhi about it.

"Oh," Haruhi said looking at Kaoru. "Well I hope they stop soon. You need to get some sleep." Kaoru nodded and gave a fake little smile.

"I'm sure they'll go away soon. Their nothing big anyways," he told her. Then he looked at his brother. "So are we going to go get ready for the club?" he asked. Hikaru nodded and they left to go to the club while Haruhi went to go study in the library before the club opened.

Hikaru and Kaoru walked through the doors and everyone was already there getting things ready. Hikaru and Kaoru went over to their usual couch and sat down. They didn't really feel like helping out with anything. Besides anything they didn't do Tamaki would do for them eventually before the club opened its doors.

As the two brothers sat on the couch Hunny came running over to them. "Are you guys feeling better today?" he asked in his cute little kid voice. The twins nodded at the same time, and Hunny smiled. "That's good. Here have some cake!" he said holding out a plate with a piece of cake on it. Hikaru and Kaoru looked at each other and then back at Hunny.

"No that's ok, you can have it," they told him. His smile grew.

"Really?" he asked. They nodded, and he ran off to a table to eat.

Next to come over to them was Kyoya. "You guys aren't going to pull another one of your stunts today, are you?" he asked. The twins shook their heads. "Good, because even though it brought in more profit last time, it created a lot of trouble for the club and I rather not go through that again. Next time it might actually cost us some money," he told them as Tamaki came over.

"Are you two ok? You're fine now right? Not fighting anymore are you?" he asked. Hikaru and Kaoru looked at each other and smirked evilly. Then they looked back at Tamaki and Kaoru followed his brother's lead as Hikaru shrugged.

"I don't know, Kaoru is still being a big baby about yesterday," Hikaru told him.

"Well maybe I'd be nicer to you if you quit insulting me and stopped being so mean," Kaoru said angrily crossing his arms.

"Well maybe I wouldn't insult you if you didn't make it so easy to. You act like such a baby," Hikaru said turning to Kaoru. Kaoru went wide eyed and looked away from Hikaru angrily.

"Oh no, you two must make up. It's so sad seeing two brothers so close fight, don't worry. We'll help make everything better. Won't we mom?" Tamaki asked turning to Kyoya.

"You know they're playing a joke on you, right?" Kyoya asked pushing his glasses up. Hikaru and Kaoru snickered and Tamaki looked at them.

"So you two aren't fighting?" he asked. The twins burst out into laughter.

"Of cores we're not fighting, stupid king," they told him through laughter. Tamaki went wide eyed.

"You know it's not nice to trick your father like that and then laugh about it! Mom, make them stop!" Tamaki yelled to Kyoya and the twins stopped laughing.

"Sorry, I have other things that I need to do that are more important than looking after two kids," he said walking away from Tamaki, and Hikaru and Kaoru burst out laughing again as Tamaki went and crouched sadly in a corner.


	9. A Talk With Hunny

Kaoru sighed and slid down the couch a little. He was still tired even after all those naps he took in class, and was having a hard time staying awake. "What's wrong with Kaoru?" one of the girls that he and his brother were entertaining asked. It had been only a few minutes since the club had opened for business and he had already lost all interest in what was going on. He and Hikaru hadn't even done one of their acts yet.

Hikaru looked at his little brother. "Yeah Kaoru, what's wrong?" he asked. Kaoru looked up at Hikaru. He knew very well that Hikaru knew he was just really tired today. He paused for a moment to think. Then he gave his older brother a small smirk that quickly went away so that none of their guests would see it. Kaoru sighed.

"I just haven't been getting much sleep," he told Hikaru as he rubbed one eye hoping that it looked a little cute to the girls.

"What do you mean you haven't been getting much sleep?" Hikaru asked him. Kaoru bit his lip.

"It's nothing, you don't need to worry," he told him looking away. The girls gasped. Hikaru went wide-eyed.

"Kaoru, it's obviously not, nothing if you're losing sleep over it," he told him placing a hand on his brother's cheek and making him look at him again. Kaoru looked into his eyes and butterfly's burst into flight in his stomach as he started to blush. An image of what he, deep down, wished would happen next flashed in his mind. But he was able to quickly make it leave. The butterflies were a different story though.

"I-I've just been having bad dreams," Kaoru told him nervously as some girls awed. Kaoru wasn't acting anymore.

"Can I help in anyway?" Hikaru asked him.

"I-I don't think so," Kaoru told him managing to look away from his older brother. Hikaru leaned in closer to Kaoru's ear.

"We could go take a nap together somewhere. I'll hold you and make the bad dreams stay away," he whispered just loud enough for the girls around them to hear. Kaoru's face turned a very bright red and the girls gasped again fainting while others squealed. Kaoru looked at Hikaru not really knowing what to say. He could tell he was still putting on an act, so Kaoru just hugged his older brother and whispered a 'thank you' in his ear just loud enough for the girls around to hear.

The Host Club was now closed and everyone was sitting around talking about their next Cosplay that was coming up. Kaoru wasn't paying attention though. He was slowly falling asleep with his head resting on his brother's shoulder not noticing anything around him. As Kaoru closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep, an image of Rose and Hikaru together popped into his mind. This made Kaoru jump, and his eyes flew open. "Kaoru, what's wrong?" Haruhi asked. She was the only one, besides Hikaru, who had noticed his sudden movement.

"It's nothing," he told her sitting up. "I'm just trying to stay awake and jumped when I noticed I was falling asleep." Haruhi raised an eyebrow at him, and he looked away nervously. As he did this though a small, concerned looking Hunny popped up beside him on the couch.

"Kaoru, are you sure your ok? You've been acting strange for a while," he said looking up at Kaoru with big eyes. Then he held up his bunny. "If you don't want to tell us about it you can tell Usa-chan," Hunny told him. "He's good at keeping secrets." Kaoru smiled at his short, older friend.

"No it's ok. I'm fine, really," he said. Hunny pouted a little, but slid off the couch and went back over to Mori.

"Well then," Kyoya started. "If we're done with this talk about Kaoru, can we please get back to talking about the Cosplay?" Everyone nodded and started suggesting ideas.

"So it's settled then?" Kyoya asked a few minutes later. Everyone nodded. "Ok, Hikaru and Kaoru, we'll trust you two with the costumes for next week's Cosplay then. You should have enough time to get it ready," Kyoya said looking at the twins. They nodded and the meeting was over.

Hikaru and Kaoru were one of the last ones out of the club room. Haruhi had raced for the door as soon as the meeting was over saying that she needed to go shopping, Kyoya said that he needed to get some work done and the faster he got home the better, and Tamaki had gotten a call from his father for him to meet him in his office. All that was left in the room was Hunny, Mori, Kaoru, and Hikaru. Hunny wanted some more cake before he left, and Mori, being Mori, didn't want to leave without him. The twins on the other hand were just being lazy and slow, and hadn't really noticed that the other three had left.

Kaoru sighed and stood up as he pulled his bag over his shoulder. Hikaru was already up and waiting for him at the door. He had decided to let Kaoru be a little slower today since he was so tired. As he went over to the door though, Hunny stopped him. "Kaoru, can I talk to you?" Hunny asked in a concerned voice. Kaoru looked from Hunny to his older brother and opened his mouth to say something, but Hunny seemed to know what he was going to say already. "Don't worry. Takashi will go talk to him. Hikaru will understand that I need to talk to you, and will wait," Hunny told him. Kaoru closed his mouth and nodded. Then he followed Hunny into the back room as Mori went over to Hikaru.

Kaoru and Hunny got into the back room, and Hunny closed the door behind them. "So what did you want to talk about?" Kaoru asked as he went and sat down on a chair that was against the wall and threw his bag to the side. Hunny went over to Kaoru and sat on the floor.

"What's wrong?" Hunny asked. Kaoru went wide-eyed. _Didn't I just tell him and everyone else a few minutes ago that it was nothing? Does he not believe me, or can he just tell?_

"It's really nothing," Kaoru told him looking away. He couldn't take Hunny's innocent face, it made him just want to blurt out everything that was going on.

"But there has to be something wrong. I haven't seen you like this since you were jealous that Hikaru liked Haruhi and not you," Hunny told him with a sad tone in his voice. Kaoru looked back at Hunny. He had surprised him once again. _But I didn't tell anyone about that. I didn't even tell Hikaru about it until it became too much to take. And even then he just thought I meant that I was jealous because I liked Haruhi too. How did Hunny know I was jealous that Hikaru liked Haruhi?_ Kaoru was lost for words. He really didn't know what to say. "Takashi and I know lots of things that go on around here," Hunny told him. "We care about everyone and we want you to be happy." Kaoru sighed.

"Well it's just that there is this girl Rose, and Hikaru..." he trailed off.

"You really like Hikaru, don't you?" Hunny asked. Kaoru blushed and looked away from Hunny.

"I'm just concerned about him, that's all," he told him clenching his fist.

Kaoru knew deep down that this wasn't true. It wasn't just concerned, it was something more. But he couldn't bring himself to say what it really was, or even think about or consider what it really was. He was scared of what the others would think if they found out what he really thought of Hikaru. And he was even more scared of what Hikaru would think if he found out. So that's where the feeling stayed, deep down. He had pushed it away for so long, and wasn't going bring it up ever again. He was going to keep telling himself and everyone that he only felt concerned about Hikaru, nothing more.

Hunny looked up at Kaoru with a sad look in his eyes. "Are you sure?" he asked. Kaoru couldn't believe it. It was like Hunny could read his mind, even the parts of it that he never shared with anyone.

"Yes, I'm sure," Kaoru told him. Hunny sighed a little.

"Well if you ever want to talk about it, you can talk to me," he told him putting a hand on his knee. "Ok?" Kaoru nodded and Hunny smiled. "Good, now let's go see Takashi and Hikaru! I'm sure they are wondering what's taking so long! And after we go see them we can have some cake!" he said standing up and opening the door happily. Kaoru smiled a small smile at Hunny.

"Thank you," he said and followed Hunny out of the room.


	10. The Story of Rose

Hikaru and Kaoru climbed into their limo. They were pretty late in leaving the school, because Hunny had insisted on them saying and having something to eat with him and Mori, and now they probably would just make it home on time for dinner. Kaoru sighed and looked out the window. Hikaru was busy playing one of their games he had found on the floor of the limo that no one had bothered to pick up from the last time they played it and left it there. After Hikaru had died for about the fifth time, he really wasn't good at games without his brothers help, and threw the game back on the floor he turned to Kaoru. "So what did Hunny want to talk to you about?" he asked.

"Nothing important," Kaoru told him not moving his eyes from the window. Hikaru sighed and went closer to his little brother. He put one arm around his shoulders. Then he took his other hand and put it on Kaoru's cheek making him look him in the eyes.

"What did Hunny want to talk to you about?" he asked again in a serious voice. Kaoru blushed slightly.

"He was just asking me about what was wrong with me again," he said moving his eyes to look away from the older twin.

"And what did you tell him," Hikaru asked.

"The same thing I told everyone the first time," Kaoru lied to him. Hikaru sighed.

"So that's really what's wrong than? You're just not getting enough sleep because of some weird dreams?" he asked.

"Yeah, that's it," Kaoru told him. Hikaru moved away from his younger brother back to where he was sitting before.

"So are you going to be able to help with the Cosplay still? Or am I going to have to do everything myself because you're too tired?" Hikaru asked. Kaoru looked at Hikaru and blinked.

"O-Of cores I'm going to be helping you," he told him. "Why wouldn't I? Helping you is more important than sleep." Hikaru laughed slightly.

"Alright, but if you do start to fall asleep I'm not going to wake you up. But that's just because I disagree with you and think you getting some rest is more important than the Cosplay itself," he told Kaoru. Kaoru smiled slightly and turned to look back out the window.

The twins got home just as dinner was finished being made and was ready to put out on the table. The two boys went and washed their hands in the nearest bathroom, and went straight to the dining room. As they entered the room, though, their eyes widened and they stood at the door. Sitting at the table was their mom and dad, and a girl that looked strangely familiar to them. They stood in the door for a few seconds before Hikaru decided to speak up. "I didn't know you two were going to be home today," he said happily as he grinned and walked over to his parents. Kaoru followed with the same grin on his face as his brother.

"We wanted it to be a surprise," their mom, Yuzuha, told them. "But we were expecting you two to be home sooner. Where were you?"

"We stayed after school to talk about the Cosplay the Host Club is going to be doing soon," Kaoru told her. She smiled.

"A Cosplay huh?" she asked. Hikaru and Kaoru looked at each other and the grins on their faces grew.

"Would you like to help us with them?" they asked at the same time. They knew that it was a long shot asking their mom to help since she was probably busy working on another fashion line, but they thought they might as well give it a try. Yuzuha hummed in thought for a moment. Then she looked up at her two boys.

"What type of Cosplay is it?" she asked.

"The Host Club wants to do one on the olden day English clothing," they told her. Yuzuha smiled.

"That's perfect!" She told them happily. The twins looked at each other and then back at their mom a little confused. She smiled at them. "My new line of clothing is the olden day English clothing with a modern touch," she explained. "That's what my whole trip this time was about. I was asked to go down to England to talk about my new line with this young ladies father." Yuzuha pointed to the girl that was beside her. Hikaru and Kaoru had forgotten all about the familiar looking girl who was also sitting at the table. "I believe you already met her," she continued. "Her name is Rose. She came down to Japan a little while ago with her father looking to visit her mother. Once they found out she was working for us, and realized who I was, they came right over. You see, Rose's father is a very rich man, richer than us. Rose's mother was also a very rich person in England, but she couldn't handle all the pressure everyone was putting on her there. She wanted to be a normal, average, working class person like her grandmother had been. She had lived with her grandmother and her mother working for a living for about half her life. But then her mother fell in love with a rich man and was forced into the upper class. Her grandmother refused to go with them though, and said she'd rather live the same way her family had been living for years. So as the years went on she got older and was forced to marry another rich mad who she didn't really love. Then she was forced to have a child with that man to keep both families going. So Rose was born. Deep inside, though, Rose's mother missed her old life. She missed the life her family had lived for centuries; she missed the life her grandmother had died living, never to see her great-granddaughter. Soon this desire for her old life made her run away. So when Rose was five her mother took just enough money to get to Japan. She hoped the distance would keep her husband from finding her, and that it would let her get back to her old life. But I guess she missed a few of the luxury's the rich life has, and that pushed her to become a maid." Hikaru and Kaoru looked at each other again, then at Rose, then at their mom again.

"But why didn't she bring Rose with her too?" Hikaru asked.

"She didn't want to take Rose out of the life she started growing up in. She knew it would be hard to go from having everything to having nothing, and she didn't want to force her kid into a new life like she was forced into when she was little," Yuzuha told him. "But as you can tell now, they found her. So when Rose's father asked if I would let them see her I was a little hesitant, but he said if I let Rose stay here with her mother that I could come back to England for a bit and talk to him about a new line of clothing he wanted to make. I, of cores, said yes and that's when I told you guys I was going on a business trip. Your father just came with me because he wanted to see England too. But as we were leaving Rose's mother came to me and said she needed a job for Rose. She said that Rose wanted money to buy stuff but she didn't know if her dad gave her enough, and since Rose can speak very little Japanese being a maid was the only thing to make her money. Plus she couldn't go to school to help stop her spending. So I gave her a job, but I didn't give her anything really specific to do, and told the maids to just give her any job available."

Hikaru and Kaoru stayed quiet now. They didn't really know what to say about the matter. They both had noticed Rose couldn't really speak Japanese, and they also notice her accent, but they never knew what type of family she came from. They had thought she was just so middle class girl who lived with her dad, and that maybe she was visiting her mother because her parents had split up and she wanted to see her again for a bit. The twins would have never guessed that the beautiful blond maid, around their age, was actually from one of the richest families in England, or that she had that type of background to her. After hearing all that now the two brothers couldn't do anything except stand there and let it all sink in.


	11. The Third Dream

The silence in the room was broken when the maids came in with the meal "Ah young Hitachiin's, I see you made it in time for dinner," said one maid now setting food down on the table. Hikaru and Kaoru both blinked and looked at her.

"Uh yeah, we were just held up at school for a bit," they told her as they moved to sit down. "This food looks really good." She smiled at them.

"I'll tell the chefs you like it," she told them. They smiled back at her. Then she turned to their parents and Rose. "Lady Hitachiin it's so nice to see you and your husband back from your trip. Would you two or your guest like anything else to go with the meal?" she asked. Yuzuha shook her head. "Well then, I hope you all enjoy your meal. I'll be back with dessert in a little bit," she told them as she and the other maid went back into the kitchen.

The Hitachiin family, and Rose, ate their food quietly. The only sound was the clinking for forks and knifes on their plates. It was really weird to have to talking at dinner time at the Hitachiin house. Usually Hikaru and Kaoru would be making jokes and causing everyone a lot of trouble. Or them and their mother would be joking around and bugging their father. But this dinner was different. Hikaru and Kaoru still hadn't had everything about Rose sink in, and at this point they really didn't feel like talking. But soon the maid that had served them came back with dessert like she had said she would. The twins thanked her again, and she asked their mom if she wanted anything. She said no again, and the maid left them to eat.

While they were half way through the dessert Rose broke the silence with her English accent. "Is dinner always quiet?" she asked. Yuzuha shook her head and began talking to Rose in English. Soon the twin's father joined in the conversation, and the tree started to laugh. Hikaru sat there ignoring the conversation as he ate, while Kaoru listened to them closely. Kaoru could make out some of the things they were saying, he was good in English after all, and he found that they were talking about Roses home in England. From what he could make out her, her dad and her maids talked all the time at meals. Also her house was apparently very beautiful, and was only slightly smaller than the Hitachiin's house.

Kaoru sighed and pushed away his half eaten dessert. He really didn't want to sit there anymore with his parents and Rose, listening to them talk. He gave Hikaru a 'let's go' look. Hikaru nodded slightly and the two stood up. "Hey, where are you two going?" Yuzuha asked finally talking in Japanese again.

"To our room," the twins said shrugging.

"What happened to your mother helping you with those costumes?" their dad asked. The two boys looked at each other and then back at the three people still sitting at the table.

"We can do that tomorrow. You guys look busy with Rose. We'll see you later," the two said, and then they walked out of the dining room, into the main entrance room, and up the stairs to the hallway that led to their bedroom.

When the twins got to their room Hikaru took off his coat and tie, threw them into the corner of the room, unbuttoned the first two buttons on his shirt, and fell down onto his and Kaoru's bed. Kaoru took his coat off and put it on the back of the chair at their desk, loosened his tie, and went and sat down on one of the chairs on the other end of the room. After a few minutes of silence Hikaru sat up on the bed and looked over to Kaoru. "So, what were they talking about down stairs?" he asked his younger brother.

"Oh, uh, just about Rose's house in England. I didn't really catch it all," he told him lying a little. Hikaru didn't say anything. He just sat there and thought for a moment about what Rose's house might look like as he stared off into space. But Kaoru soon broke the silence. "You know, if you want to understand what mom and Rose talk about you could try harder in learning English," he told his older brother. Hikaru shook his head and snapped out of his thoughts.

"What do you mean? I am trying hard," he told him.

"I know, but I could help you a little more if you want," Kaoru said. He and Hikaru hadn't been spending too much time alone together lately, at least not good time, and Kaoru really wanted to be able to be with him more. Hikaru rubbed his chin.

"That's nice of you to offer," he said. "But maybe getting help from someone that's an expert would be better."

"Do you know anyone who's an expert?" Kaoru asked in a kind of cold voice. He was annoyed that Hikaru had rejected his offer. Hikaru looked at Kaoru and blinked.

"Of cores I do," he said. "Rose."

"But Rose can't even speak Japanese that well, how's she supposed to help you if you can communicate?" he asked half yelling now.

"I can help her with her Japanese while she helps me with English. She can teach me the basics first, and then we'll be able to help each other a little bit at a time," Hikaru told him. Kaoru opened his mouth the say something, but then closed and looked away from Hikaru.

Hikaru got up off the bed and walked over to Kaoru. He sat down on the arm of the chair Kaoru was on and looked at him. "What's wrong?" Hikaru asked calm and quietly. Kaoru looked up at him.

"Nothing, I just wanted to help you. That's all," he said. Of cores this was only half the truth. Kaoru may have wanted to help Hikaru, but he was also kind of mad that Hikaru wanted to spend time with Rose. He didn't see what was so interesting about her.

"Do you want to know the truth about something?" Hikaru asked.

"Sure, about what?" Kaoru asked in an annoyed tone. Hikaru took a deep breath and then continued.

"I think Rose is really beautiful," he started. "And now that I know she isn't actually of lower class I want to spend more time with her. I don't know, I think I kind of like her."

Kaoru went wide eyed. He didn't know what to say to Hikaru. He was feeling too many things at the moment to think straight. Anger, because Hikaru didn't tell him before and now he wanted to spend more time with Rose than him. Sadness, because he was losing the person he loved to someone else, and Jealousy, because Rose had won Hikaru over so easily with just her looks. Kaoru looked away from Hikaru quickly and stood up. He walked over to their bathroom and slammed the door. "Kaoru, what's wrong now?" Hikaru asked in a half yell, getting up and running to the door. He grabbed the handle and turned it, but Kaoru had locked it.

"Nothing's wrong! I-I just need to think about this alone for a while," Kaoru told him. "I need to let it sink in." Hikaru sighed.

"Alright," he said. "I'm sorry for not telling you sooner. But now we're even, right?"

"Yeah, I guess," Kaoru said though he didn't really feel this made them even at all. He felt that Hikaru had just hurt him more than he already was. He felt he was losing Hikaru even more, and even though Rose was a very nice person, he couldn't help be hate her now. But there was no more discussion on the matter. Hikaru just sighed at Kaoru's answer, got undressed and climbed into bed while Kaoru took a long, hot bath.

Once Kaoru was done his bath and his thinking he got out and put on his PJ bottoms. He left the bathroom to find that Hikaru was sleeping in their bed, and probably had been for half an hour or so. Kaoru got into the bed careful not to wake his brother, he didn't feel like talking to him at all at the moment, and closed his eyes.

****

_"Hey Kaoru guess what," Hikaru said excitedly._

"_What Hikaru?" Kaoru asked a little confused at his brothers excitement. The two boys were standing in the hallway of their mansion just outside their bedroom door._

"_I just realized something," Hikaru said._

"_And what is that?" Kaoru asked getting a little excited too now._

"_I lov-" Hikaru cut himself off as something caught his eye behind Kaoru. His eyes went wide. "She's beautiful," he said in almost a whisper. Kaoru was even more confused now._

"_Who's beautiful? Come on Hikaru snap out of it. What were you going to tell me?" he asked._

"_Huh, what," Hikaru said shaking his head and looking back at Kaoru. "Oh it was nothing. I'll see you later. I want to go talk to Rose." Hikaru said running past Kaoru. Kaoru stood there confused for a second, but then turned to see where Hikaru went running off to. But as he did he saw that there was nothing but darkness around him and he couldn't move. Close by he could see Hikaru and Rose talking and laughing together. He couldn't hear what they were saying, but he could guess by their jesters what was going on. It looked as if Hikaru was flirting with the girl. Kaoru clenched his fists and he started to feel hot. There was anger building up inside him, and he didn't know what to do with it. Then he saw Hikaru take Rose's hand, and they started to walk off together towards a distant light. Kaoru reached out for Hikaru and tried to yell at him to stop, but no sound came out. Then before he knew it, it was falling again. Just like the other times Hikaru had abandoned him and left him without anything to save himself._


	12. The Girl Named Rose

Kaoru woke up on the floor again. He groaned and sat up clutching his head. It was pounding and it felt like he had been hit in the head with a rock or something. It also felt like he hadn't slept at all that night. Kaoru stood up slowly, but it was too much for him at the moment and he had to sit down on the edge of the bed to so he didn't get too dizzy. He looked over at the other side of the bed. Hikaru was still sleeping and the maids wouldn`t be in to wake them up for another hour. Kaoru lay back down on the bed. He figured he could get a little more rest before it was time to get ready for school, plus he didn't want to be up and have Hikaru worrying about him since he knew about the dreams now.

But in the end Kaoru sighed and sat up. He couldn't do it. He couldn't rest after the dream he just had, and after what Hikaru had told him yesterday. Kaoru sat there with his knees up and his head rested on them. His head still hurt, but he ignored it. He didn't care.

After a few minutes Kaoru's eyes started to close by themselves. He couldn't keep them open any longer. He was too tired. He started to drift off to sleep again, but as he did images of Hikaru and Rose popped into his head. He woke up with a start and fell back onto the floor loudly and tangled up in the bed sheets. He groaned sitting up and holding his head again, and heard moving from the bed.

A few seconds later Hikaru was on Kaoru's side of the bed looking over the edge. "What are you doing on the floor?" he asked rubbing his eyes and yawning. "And don't say I pushed you off because I never." Kaoru didn't say anything. He just looked away from his older brother. Hikaru's eyes went wide. "You had another bad dream didn't you?" he asked. Kaoru still didn't say anything. Hikaru sighed getting out of the bed and sat down beside his younger brother. "You want to tell me about it?" he asked. Kaoru shook his head. But it was too much movement for him and he started to feel dizzy again. He clutched his head and closed his eyes. Hikaru sighed and put an arm around Kaoru pulling him closer. Kaoru instantly put his head down onto Hikaru's shoulder without thinking about it since that was what he was use to doing. "I think you should stay home today and get some sleep," Hikaru told Kaoru. "It's Friday so you can take today and the whole weekend to rest. I'll bring you your homework after school."

Kaoru sat back up and looked at his brother. "No, I want to go to school," he told him.

"What's the point in going to school if you're just going to be sleeping the whole time anyways? At least if you stay home you'll get to sleep without getting in trouble," Hikaru told him.

"But we have that test today, and the Host Club," Kaoru reminded him. Hikaru sighed angrily.

"You can do the test another time. It's no use taking it today if you're just going to fall asleep half way through and get a bad mark. I'll tell the teacher and he'll understand. You can take it on Monday," Hikaru told him. "And as for the Host Club, it's the same thing. If you're going to be sleeping then there's no point in going."

"But everyone will be disappointed," he said sadly.

"They'll understand. The girls know you're not doing well anyways from yesterday, and so does everyone else. Besides, Kyoya would send you home anyways if you're too tired to do anything. He'd say you'd just be bringing the profits down," Hikaru told his younger brother. He was getting a little angry now since he had to argue with him.

Kaoru's eyes went sad and he looked away from Hikaru. It wasn't that he didn't think he should stay home and rest. It was just that he didn't want to stay home alone. He wanted to be with Hikaru as much as he could now that he knew he liked Rose. "What's with those eyes?" Hikaru asked confused now. "I'm only thinking about what's best for you."

"I know, but I..." Kaoru trailed off.

"But you, what?" Hikaru asked even more confused now.

"I don't want to be home alone all day," Kaoru told him a little embarrassed.

"But why does that matter? You'll be asleep all day," he told him.

"But what if I wake up from a bad dream again? Or I end up staying up all day alone because I don't want to go back to sleep?" Kaoru asked. Hikaru sighed and stood up. Kaoru blinked in confusion as he watched his older brother walk over to the dresser and pick up his phone.

Hikaru called Haruhi first. He told her that he and Kaoru weren't going to be in school, and asked her to get their homework and talk to their Math teacher about rescheduling their test. Then he called Tamaki and told him that they wouldn`t be at the club. Tamaki freaked out for a few minutes asking what was wrong and if they needed anything, and it took Hikaru about ten minutes to get him to be quiet and assure him everything was fine. Finally Hikaru called the number for the head maid. He told her that him and Kaoru would be staying home and to not send anyone up to wake them. She argued with him for a bit, but once Hikaru explained what was going on she agreed that staying home and resting would be the best thing.

After all that Hikaru went back over to Kaoru. "Ok we're both staying home, you happy now?" he asked. Kaoru nodded. He wasn't really that happy though. He did still think they should have gone to school. Also, he didn't really want to be in the house with Hikaru when Rose was in it too. "Good, then get back into bed," Hikaru said walking over to one of the chairs in their room by the TV.

"What about you?" Kaoru asked getting up off the floor slowly. Hikaru turned around and looked at him.

"What about me?" Hikaru asked. "I'm not the one that needs the rest. I'm watching TV until Haruhi comes with our homework. I'll keep it down for you though." Kaoru didn't say anything more. He just sighed as he climbed into bed to get some sleep.

Kaoru woke up with a start about an hour later. He didn't feel sick this time though. He sat up and looked over to where Hikaru had last been. The TV was off, and there was no sign of him even being in the room. Kaoru got out of the bed and walked over to where his older brother had been sitting last. There was a note on the chair. Kaoru picked it up and read it. It said that Hikaru had left to go for a walk because there was nothing on TV and he was bored. Kaoru sighed sadly. _What if Hikaru actually just left to go find Rose? What if he gave in so easily to staying home because he hoped I'd sleep the whole day and he could spend it hanging around her? Even if he doesn't really understand her he still said he likes her._ Kaoru went and threw the note in the garbage and then left the room to find Hikaru.

Hikaru walked down the hallway with Rose. She was headed to the room where the twin's mom kept all the outfits she was working on, and had gotten lost again. Hikaru had taken the chance to spend some time with her, and decided to take the long way. "So why are you going to my mom's outfit storage?" Hikaru asked. Rose looked like she didn't understand the last word, but knew what he was asking.

"Cleaning," she told him.

"The maid that usually cleans it is busy?" he asked. Rose nodded. "You know, you could have probably just fallowed your mom around all these days. Why did you choose to actually work here?" Hikaru asked her. Rose paused for a few seconds apparently thinking about what Hikaru had asked again.

"We get more money if I work?" she said in more of a questioning tone. Hikaru nodded to show he understood, and she smiled.

"So this must be a big change for you since you live as a rich girl in England," he said. Rose nodded. "Do you miss being down there?" he asked. She nodded again.

"I'll go back soon, but then I'll miss mother," she told him.

"Yeah, I guess you would," Hikaru said.

"You miss your mother?" Rose asked. Hikaru blinked and looked at her confused. She frowned and repeated herself.

"Oh! Oh yeah! When she leaves to go to other country's I do," he told her. "My dad too, but my brother and I have gotten use to them leaving for long periods of time. We have each other to keep company after all." Rose smiled slightly at him, and then looked away in front of them.

"I have no one," she told him. Hikaru thought Rose looked almost lonely as she said it even though he was right beside her.

"Your dad goes off on business trips too?" he asked her. She nodded.

"Very lonely," she told him, and he could see tears forming in her eyes. But a second later she blinked and looked up at him smiling. "But it's not lonely here," she told him. Hikaru shook his head.

"No, it's defiantly not lonely here," he said softly with a smile as they got to the room they were looking for.


	13. Talking With The Maid

Kaoru walked down the long empty hallways alone looking for Hikaru. Once in a while he would see a maid out of the corner of his eye working in one of the rooms. When he did he would stop and ask her if she knew where his brother might be. But they always just suggested the usual places, which Kaoru had already checked, so he just sighed, gave them a small smile, and said thank you as he left them to do their work.

Finally after looking through most of the house Kaoru decided to look down the hallway he and Hikaru rarely went. It was the hallway where their parents spent most of their time, and the two brothers would only go there if they felt like looking at their mom's new clothing. As Kaoru walked by the room their mom kept her older designs he heard a girls giggling along with a mumbling like a boy talking. He went over to the room and looked in through the door that was open a bit.

Hikaru was standing off to the side of the room leaning against the wall watching Rose scrub the marble floor. Kaoru stood there and listened and found that Hikaru was trying the best he could to get an English lesson. He would point to something and Rose would say what it was in English, and then Hikaru would copy her. But it always ended in Rose giggling. "What's so funny?" Hikaru asked crossing his arms.

"Your Japanese accent," Rose told him sitting up and looking at him.

"Oh come on, it can't be that bad," he said. Rose nodded and giggled. "Well that's not very nice, I don't laugh at your English one," Hikaru told her joking around.

"You can understand me," Rose told him. Hikaru frowned.

"Whatever, and who said you can take a break. Keep working," he told her still in a joking tone.

"You're not the boss," Rose told him crossing her arms.

"Oh, but I am. I'm the son of the people who hired the lady that got you a job here. So in the long run, yes, I am your boss," he told her smiling evilly as he got off the wall and walked over to her.

"I don't understand," she said smirking.

"Then maybe you should learn more Japanese," he told her crossing his arms and leaning forward.

"You should learn English," she told him flicking some water that was on her hands in his face. Hikaru blinked and bent down. Rose watched curiously as he took the rag she was holding and lifted up. Then he twisted it making the water that was left in it fall on her head. Rose's eyes went wide and her mouth opened in shock. Hikaru smirked. Rose glared at him and dipped both her hands in her water bucket in a cup shape. Then she lifted them out and threw the water in them at him. They glared at each other for a few seconds. Then they both started laughing and it turned into an all out water fight.

Kaoru swung the door open angrily. "What are you guys doing?! You're going to get mom's clothes wet and wreck them!" he yelled clenching his fist. He wasn't too worried about the clothing though. His brother and Rose were far enough away from them that if they did get wet it wouldn't be much, and it would dry fast. What Kaoru was really mad about was the fact that his brother had actually decided to leave him all alone in their room while he went to find Rose to flirt with.

Hikaru quickly stood up and walked over to Kaoru. "Calm down Kaoru I've never seen you this mad before, we were just fooling around. I wouldn't have let any of the clothes get wrecked," he told him putting a hand on his shoulder. Kaoru unclenched his fist, but brushed his brother's hand off.

"I know, I just can't believe you let her act like that with you," Kaoru said pointing to Rose who had started cleaning up the water, and cleaning the rest of the floor quickly. "I don't care if she's the daughter of a rich man from England. Right now she's a maid in this house and you should be letting her do her job. You should never play around with our family's workers, if anyone found out it would give us a bad name." Hikaru crossed his arms.

"So what you're saying is that I shouldn't be associating myself with a commoner?" he asked. Kaoru shook his head.

"No, Haruhi is a commoner and it's perfectly fine to associate yourself with her. What I'm saying is you shouldn't be socializing with our workers when their on duty," he told his brother sternly.

"Kaoru, what's gotten into you? I've never seen you this angry before. Plus a few days ago you found it perfectly ok to socialize with her while she was working," Hikaru reminded him.

"That was different," Kaoru protested. "We were helping her find where she needed to go because she was new and lost."

"So we're only allowed to talk to her when she needs help?" Hikaru snapped. "You don't think that maybe fooling around and talking to her when she doesn't need help is also helping her?" Kaoru raised an eyebrow. "Kaoru, she's the only person her age in this house besides us! You don't think that would get a little lonely? You don't think she deserves to talk to people her age?" Hikaru asked his anger rising.

Rose had finished cleaning the floor and was standing there her head hung looking at the floor, her hands were clasped together hanging down in front of her. "Of course she deserves to socialize with people her age, just-" Kaoru was cut off.

"'Not when she's working'," Hikaru finished for his brother. "I don't know what's gotten into you Kaoru, but it better leave by tomorrow. We'll just say you being sick, is the reason for your behaviour today. Now get to bed before you get worse, I'd hate myself if you got any sicker because of me." He said the last part with a softer more caring tone as he pushed past Kaoru. Then he turned and looked back at Rose. "If you're done here than come and tell me where you're going next, I'll show you how to get there," he told her. Rose lifted her head, grabbed her stuff, and walked quickly out the door.

"I'm sorry, it's my fault. Don't be mad at him, I hate it when brothers fight," she whispered softly to Kaoru as she walked out of the room.

Kaoru turned and looked at the two. Rose was smiling now, and Hikaru looked a little happier too. "Get back to bed, Kaoru. I'll come see you once Haruhi gets here with our homework," Hikaru told him talking in his normal tone again. Kaoru nodded, and Rose gave him a soft apologetic smile. Then Kaoru watched as his brother and Rose left down the hallway. Kaoru waited until they were out of sight before disobeying his brother and heading to the backyard to think.


	14. A Mother and Her Son

Kaoru got to the backyard and sat down on the grass. He sighed and put his face in his hands then laid back, put his arms under his head, and watched the clouds float by in the sky. He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths taking in the fresh air before opening them and just staring at the sky again the hot sun beating down on his face. _I don't get what Hikaru sees in that English girl. She's the same as all the other rich girls at our school, isn't she? And Hikaru didn't see anything in them, so why her?_ Kaoru thought for a moment before coming to a realization. Rose wasn't anything like the rich girls at their school really. She was nicer than most of them, and she didn't faint, freak out, or whisper excitedly to someone else when the two of them walked by. Rose was also able to tell them apart most of the time, plus she was foreign. Kaoru could see how she'd be interesting to Hikaru. Rose was a different type of girl than they were use to, and it probably seemed exciting to Hikaru to be around someone new.

Kaoru sighed again and pushed his thoughts out of his head. He didn't need to be thinking about Rose and Hikaru when he was sick since it was the reason he was in the first place. Plus he didn't even understand why he was feeling so jealous of Rose. He should be feeling happy for Rose and his brother and be supportive of them. There was nothing to be jealous of. Hikaru was his brother, and brothers shouldn't be jealous of their twin brother's girlfriend. They should be happy and follow their example by going out and getting a girlfriend themselves. Yet Kaoru didn't feel like he wanted a girlfriend. And the more he thought about getting one, the more his mind jumped to Hikaru and how he wished Rose would just go away.

Kaoru stayed in the backyard just gazing blankly at the clouds. He'd finally cleared his mind of everything and was just taking in the fresh air now. His peace was short lived though. As he stared up at the sky a face started to come into view high above his. He blinked a few times and saw that it was his mom. "What are you doing out here, Kaoru? The head maid told me you were sick," she said. Kaoru sat up and looked at her properly.

"How do you know I'm Kaoru? What if I'm actually Hikaru and you mixed us up again?" he asked. She smiled.

"Well for one I just passed Hikaru in the hallway with Rose on my way out here, two I can tell by your hair," she told him. Kaoru raised an eyebrow at her. "And three, I know Hikaru wouldn't come lay in the grass when something's bothering him, he'd find something to do in the house," she told him in a tone only a concerned mother could have as she sat down beside him. "So, what's wrong?"

Kaoru waited for a moment before answering his mother. "I'm just worried about the time length Kyoya and Tamaki gave us to make the new costumes. They're due in a few days. Plus I wanted to go to school today but Hikaru wouldn't let me, so we both missed some tests, we'll have a whole bunch of homework when Haruhi gets here because we didn't do any in class, and we're missing the Host Club," Kaoru told her. This wasn't a complete lie, but it wasn't the whole truth either. He'd only told his mom the little things that were bugging him at the moment, but he knew what was really bugging him was something much greater than any of these things.

Yuzuha sat quietly beside her youngest son listening to what he had to say as she looked out at the scenery. Something was telling her Kaoru wasn't telling her the whole truth, but she didn't say anything about it. She learnt to accept that since she was hardly ever around her boys that they might not want to tell her everything, and that was ok with her. She let them keep their secrets knowing that if it was something big they'd tell each other eventually and sort things out together. She was never usually around for them to confine anything in her, or to help them.

Yuzuha finally turned to her son. "We'll get the costumes done. I promised I'd help you and I will. You can use my new line to dress up in and that'll help me test it to see if people like it. It'll benefit both of us that way. As for your tests just stay after school after the Host Club, I'll send the limo later and have them wait to make dinner. With homework, you and Hikaru are smart boys, you can do your work fast and get it done. You always manage to. And the club, since you're not there today and your friends are probably telling your guests that you're sick, the girls will want to see you even more when you're back and it could boost sales putting Kyoya in a better mood than he normally is. It's a benefit missing the club today because you're sick, really," she told him. Kaoru smiled at his mom.

"You know, you're probably right for most of that," he said sounding like he was in a slightly better mood. But Yuzuha could tell he was faking some of it.

"I know I'm right about all that, you just wait and see," she told him. "Now, how about we get back into the house? Hikaru was asking me if I'd seen you because Haruhi's supposed to come with your homework soon. So why don't we go look for your brother?" Kaoru nodded and, for some strange reason, Yuzuha seemed to feel like talking about Hikaru made Kaoru's mood go back into a bad one.


	15. Different Sides of The Door

Kaoru and his mom found Hikaru in the entrance hall with Rose and Haruhi. Rose and Haruhi were talking to each other about something, but Kaoru didn't really care enough to find out what. Hikaru was standing off to the side watching them with an interested look on his face. Kaoru and Yuzuha went over to the boy and he looked at them. "Having fun watching the two biggest crushes you've ever have talk to each other?" Kaoru asked him in a slightly annoyed tone. Hikaru turned a little red.

"No, I was just interested in what two commoner girls talk about," he told him defensively.

"Too bad Rose isn't actually a commoner," Kaoru mumbled and Yuzuha looked at her two boys in confusion.

"Well, I think it's time these girls left so you boys can get your homework done and work on that Cosplay," she said glancing over at the girls. Haruhi nodded like there was some kind of secret meaning behind the glace.

"Can I take Rose around town? She told me she hasn't seen much of it and I'd love to show her some great things about it," she asked the Hitachiin's mother, bowing slighting. Hikaru and Kaoru smirked a little at her, and Yuzuha nodded.

"Of course you can. Just make sure she gets back in 2 hours so he mother can take her home," she told her. Haruhi nodded and then smiled at Rose leading the way out of the house.

Hikaru and Kaoru went quietly up to their room with their homework. When they got there Hikaru dropped his books and papers on his desk and went and sat down in front of their TV. "Aren't you going to work on your homework?" Kaoru asked not even looking over at Hikaru as he sat down and organized his desk so it was easier for him to work.

"I hate doing homework, you know that," Hikaru said stretching turning on the TV. "And besides we have all weekend to do it."

"It's better to do it now and get it out of the way than to wait until the last minute," Kaoru told him opening his books and starting to work. Hikaru gave a chuckle.

"Maybe for you, but I like to think I work better under pressure. Besides I want Rose to help me with my English homework, remember," he told his brother grinning, a grin that Kaoru wasn't able to see.

"But I always help you with it. I'm good at English too," Kaoru told him. Hikaru sighed.

"We've already been over this, Rose actually _speaks_ the language. She'd be a lot more help for me. Besides I'm trying to get on her good side so I can get closer to her," he told him.

Kaoru shut his books loudly and pushed back his desk chair. He stood up, grabbed his things and headed for the bedroom door with his head bowed so his hair covered his face. Hikaru turned around, in his soft chair by the TV, quickly and looked at his brother. "Where are you going, what's wrong?" he asked getting up and walking over to his brother. Kaoru stopped him when he was halfway to him by putting out his hand.

"I'm just going to a quieter room to do my work, nothing's wrong," he said a little bitterly. Then he walked out of the room slamming the door leaving Hikaru to stand there frozen with a confused look on his face.

Kaoru leaned his back on the closed bedroom door and slid down it letting the tears that had built up in his eyes leak out. He dropped his books on the floor, brought his knees up to his chest, and rested his arms on them with his face buried in his arms. He took a deep breath, and then just sat there and cried.

Hikaru went over to the door and tried to open it by pushing on it slightly, so as not to be obvious just in case Kaoru was still in the hallway, but it didn't move. There was something blocking the door from opening. Hikaru heard a quiet sound from the other side. He kneeled down at the door and pressed his ear against it listening closely. It sounded like someone was crying on the other side. Hikaru sunk down even more onto the floor. He was sitting down with his hands and ear pressed against the door listening. _Why's Kaoru crying, did something happen?_ Hikaru thought to himself as he sat there quietly. _It couldn't have been something I did, could it have? He said he was fine and he just needed a quiet place to work. What's gotten into him?_

Hikaru rubbed his eyes and realized he was starting to cry too. The thought of his brother not telling him that something was bothering him again hurt, and now Kaoru was crying over it making Hikaru cry too because he didn't want to talk about it and get help sorting things out. It hurt Hikaru knowing that his own twin didn't trust him enough to tell him what was wrong, or to be able to use his shoulder a cry on like he use to.

Hikaru continued to sit there quietly. He didn't want to open the door and startle Kaoru making him run off. He also didn't want to say anything from his side of the door just in case Kaoru didn't want to talk to him and just ignored him or went away. So he just sat there listening. Letting a few tears roll down his cheeks as he slowly started to drift off to sleep against the door tired from his long day with Rose.


	16. Tell Me

Kaoru opened his eyes slowly and yawned. He'd been in the hallway all night, and no one had said anything to him about it, or tried to wake him up. He had a knick in his neck from leaning against the door funny, and his eyes felt like they were cemented shut because of all the crying he'd done. Kaoru rubbed his eyes and looked towards the end of the hallway to the right and jumped. He fell onto his side and groaned. "Are you ok?" Rose asked getting up and coming over to him. She looked like she'd been sitting in the hall with him for a while, but it startled Kaoru how quiet she'd been.

Kaoru nodded at her and sat up. He pushed himself back against the door with slight difficulty. He was stiff all over. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I came to say goodnight to you and Hikaru before I went home, but I saw you here and asked if I could stay over. Are you ok?" she asked again. Kaoru nodded. "Why were you sleeping on the floor?" she asked raising an eyebrow.

"Uh, I got a little mad at Hikaru last night and didn't really want to be in the same room as him. So I left to cool down, but I was too tired to go anywhere and ended up sleeping on the floor," Kaoru told her shrugging. _Why am I even bothering telling her this?_

"That's no good," Rose told him with a frown. "Go to your room to a bed to get some better sleep. It's still early." She held a hand out and Kaoru took it without really thinking. Rose helped him stand up and he leaned against the wall beside the door holding his head. Rose turned the handle on the door and pulled on it. Then she gasped and backed away.

Hikaru fell through the now open doorway with a thud and a loud groan. Kaoru just stood there shocked staring at his twin, and Rose stood on the other side with her hands over her mouth. Hikaru made another angry groan as he sat up and rubbed his eyes. He opened them and looked up to see who'd opened the door, and went wide-eyed when he saw his brother and Rose together. His eyes were red, like Kaoru's were, from crying, and he looked like he hadn't gotten a good sleep at all, like Kaoru.

Kaoru blinked at Hikaru. No one moved or spoke for a few seconds. Then Kaoru finally found his voice and broke the silence. "What were you doing there?" he asked his older twin brother.

"What do you mean, what was I doing there? What were you doing out here, and what are you doing with Rose?" Hikaru asked in a slightly annoyed tone.

"I think you know what I was doing if you were there all night like I was," Kaoru told him. His voice wasn't strong like his brothers. It was weak and cracking. Hikaru stood up quickly, but wished he didn't after. He was stiff like Kaoru and it hurt him a little to move that fast. He let out another groan. "What are you doing? Don't strain yourself like that," Kaoru said a little surprised at how fast his brother had moved. Usually Hikaru wouldn't move at all when he wasn't feeling good or was hurt.

"Like you care, you don't have to act, Kaoru," he said laughing slightly.

"What in the world are you talking about?!" Kaoru asked getting angry now making him able to yell. He didn't know what was forcing his brother to act like this, but he figured it was probably due to his lack of sleep and his hurting body.

"You know perfectly well what I'm talking about!" Hikaru told him in an angry whisper looking away from Rose so she couldn't hear him. Kaoru gave him a confused look. Hikaru sighed and turned to Rose. "Thank you for worrying about us and keeping my brother company," he told her taking one of her hands and kissing it like he'd watch Tamaki do many times. Rose blushed and Kaoru clenched his fist. "But Kaoru and I have some things we have to talk about, so we'll see you later," he told her smiling. Rose just nodded, turned, and headed back down the hallway.

Hikaru pulled Kaoru into their room, closed the door behind him, and pushed his twin on to their bed. He opened his mouth to say something, but Kaoru beat him to it. "What was that?" he asked trying to sound calm. "You were acting like Tamaki."

"Well I seen him do that lots of times to make girls leave without hurting their feelings, so I thought I'd try it," Hikaru told him, and then shook his head. "But that's not what we're here to talk about. What the hell were to doing all night while you were gone, and why was Rose with you?!" Kaoru blinked at him.

"I was in the hallway sleeping you idiot. You must have noticed I was on the other side of the door since you were sleeping against it all night too. And Rose was sitting down the hallway worrying about us all night. I didn't know she was there until I woke up this morning," he was trying to keep calm with his brother. He knew he hadn't gotten a good sleep and it was mostly the lack of energy talking.

"Liar," Hikaru said coldly. "You were with her all night weren't you? That's why you've been in a bad mood since we met her. You like her, and were mad that I made a move on her first. So last night you went and stayed with her to try and win her over before she chose me." He walked closer to Kaoru as he talked staring at him with intense eyes.

"Do you even here yourself talking?!" Kaoru yelled at him standing up. He couldn't take this from his brother anymore. "Why would you even think I wanted Rose? You don't pay attention to me at all do you? If you were smart you would have figured it out, but I guess you're not!" He clenched his fist, and Hikaru pushed him back down onto the bed.

"Well what other reason could there have been for you being gone all night, and coming back with Rose?" he asked in a growl. Kaoru took a deep breath and let it out.

"I already told you. I slept in the hallway because I was upset, and I didn't notice Rose until I woke up. She wasn't even near me when I saw her," he told his brother through clenched teeth.

"I know you were upset! I heard you crying on the other side of the door! And the truth is it made me upset too because you wouldn't tell me what was wrong! But then I took the time to think about it and I figured that you liked Rose too and were upset because I'd gotten her before you! Why didn't you tell me?! We tell each other everything! We already had to go through this fight once, why did you make it so we had to go through it again? Didn't you get it the first time?" Hikaru calmed down slowly lowering his voice so the last few words were almost a whisper.

Kaoru's eyes filled with tears. He didn't understand why his old brother didn't believe him. It was like his mind was blurred by Rose and everything had to end with her. Kaoru looked down at his hands that were in his lap. "You're an idiot, Hikaru, an idiot. You don't get it. All you care about is Rose, you won't listen to what I say because everything you do and think about has to be about her," Kaoru told him in almost a whisper and he let the tears roll down his face. Hikaru started at his little brother for a few seconds, and then sat down beside him on the bed. Kaoru moved as far away as he could from him by sliding over to the foot of the bed. Hikaru sighed and fell onto his back holding his face in his hands.

They sat there quietly for a few minutes, Hikaru trying to unscramble his confused mind, and Kaoru fidgeting with his own hands as he cried quietly. Hikaru let out a long sigh, sat up, and looked at his twin. "So you don't like Rose the way I think you do?" he asked. Kaoru shook his head slowly. "But from what I can see, because I do pay attention to you Kaoru I really do, you don't like it when I'm around her and flirting?" Kaoru hesitated for a few seconds and then nodded, but still refrained from looking over at his brother. "But you won't tell me why you don't like it, which it causing all this fighting between us?" Kaoru bit his lip and nodded again. "So it kind of seems like you're jealous. So that's what doesn't make any sense to me, why would you feel jealous if you don't like Rose?" Kaoru didn't answer he just sat there fidgeting. Then he took at deep breath.

"I think I should leave," he said in a very weak voice as he stood up.

Kaoru started to head for the door, but Hikaru leaned forward, grabbed the back of his shirt, and held him in place. Kaoru was feeling too tired and weak to put up any kind of fight, and just let his brother stop him. "You're not leaving until you help me understand all this. I don't want us fighting anymore," Hikaru told him in a tone that was more annoyed with Kaoru's behaviour than confused anymore.

"I-I can't," Kaoru said trying to pull away now, but Hikaru held on.

"You have to, I can't just let you leave without answers," he told him. Kaoru shook his head, and started to squirm more trying to get away. Hikaru sighed and tugged on his shirt hard. Kaoru went wide-eyed as Hikaru easily pulled him backwards and into his lap. Then Hikaru wrapped his arms tightly around him so that his arms were pinned to his side. He then took his legs and wrapped them around Kaoru's so he was pinned in place.

Kaoru squirmed and tried to kick to get away, but it was no use and he was just tiring himself out more. He couldn't understand how Hikaru was so much stronger than him when they were twins, and both tired. So Kaoru quickly gave up on getting away and made himself go limp in Hikaru's arms.

Hikaru sighed at the extra weight it felt like he was holding, and put his chin on Kaoru's shoulder close to his neck. Kaoru quickly went stiff, and Hikaru laughed. "Now, tell me what you've been keeping from me," he whispered in Kaoru's ear. Hikaru's breath tickled Kaoru's ear, and butterfly's exploded in his stomach. He turned red and squirmed a little trying to get away from his breathing. "Kaoru, we promised we'd tell each other everything no matter what. So what's wrong? Why are you always mad at me for being around Rose, and why don't you want to be close to me anymore? Before if I did this to you you'd be relaxed and maybe even fall asleep. Now you're acting like you're uncomfortable," Hikaru didn't whisper this time. It was a stern voice he was talking in, and Kaoru froze at how serious he sounded.

"Maybe I am uncomfortable," Kaoru mumbled.

"Why?" Hikaru asked. Kaoru bit his lip.

"Because you forced me into this," he said, though it sounded more like a question the way it came out.

"That's what I did every other time. It was the only way you would let me do it. Why's it uncomfortable now?" he asked.

"Because we're older now," he told Hikaru, but it still sounded like a question and Kaoru cursed himself for it.

"It doesn't make a difference to me, why does it to you?" he asked. Kaoru didn't say anything. "Kaoru, you're not answering me truthfully. I can tell when you're lying unlike some other people. I can tell every time, even if they ask you something I didn't know the answer to. I'm your twin, Kaoru, you can't get anything past me," Hikaru was starting to sound annoyed, and Kaoru felt guilty.

"Apparently I can get things past you," Kaoru whispered. "You've pinned me here so I'll tell you what you can't figure out after all." Hikaru laughed.

"You've got me there," he said his tone getting lighter. "But I still know you're hiding something, and I want you to tell me what it is."

"I can't," Kaoru whispered.

"Why not?" Hikaru asked starting to get a little confused again.

"Because I'm hiding it from you to protect both of us, because it's wrong," he told him. Kaoru wanted to turn around and look into Hikaru's eyes to show him that he was telling the truth, and that he really didn't want to tell him. It would hurt both of them if he did, maybe even Rose, and it was defiantly wrong to him. But the hold Hikaru had him in made it almost impossible to move at all.

Hikaru sighed. "How do you know keeping it to yourself is protecting us both, and how do you know it's wrong? I'm sure you told Hunny about it didn't you? That's what you were talking about that one day when you went off together, right? And Mori probably knows too if Hunny does. So why is it that you can tell them and not me? I'm your brother. You should be able to tell me," Hikaru told him. His voice was soft and concerned now.

"That's why I can't tell you, because you're my brother," Kaoru told him tears starting to roll down his face again. He was shocked at how much Hikaru could figure out when he put his mind to it, and knew he'd figure everything out himself quickly if he tried. Or he already did figure it out and just wanted to be reassured. Either way, Kaoru didn't want to say anything about it.

"Kaoru, it really doesn't matter. You're going to tell me eventually," Hikaru assured him. "I'm not going to try and figure this out. It takes too much work, and I'm tired. So make it easy for me and just tell me." Kaoru shook his head. Hikaru sighed, let go of him, and unwrapped his legs. "Well if you're not going to tell me there's no use fighting over it. I getting some sleep before we have to make those stupid costumes for next week," He told him pushing Kaoru off himself, Kaoru stumbled but regained his balance so he didn't fall to the floor. Hikaru took off his shirt and pants, and crawled under the covers on the side Kaoru usually slept. He yawned and stretched out the best he could so he took up the whole bed.

Kaoru stood there staring at his brother stunned. He didn't know what had caused his sudden change in mood. _Then again, it's Hikaru. This probably has something to do with some plan he put together quickly to get me to tell him what he wants to know._ Kaoru let out a sigh and watched as one of Hikaru's eye's shot open. "If you stop staring at me and tell me what's wrong I'll let you back in the bed," he said smirking. Kaoru turned a light red, shook his head, and walked over to the chairs by the TV to sleep in.

After a few minutes, just as Kaoru had drifted off to sleep, he felt like a light weight had been dropped on him. He groaned and stirred trying to push it off, but it wouldn't budge. He groaned again and opened his eyes slightly. He now saw that Hikaru had found his way over to the chair he was in, and was now sitting on top of him, in nothing but his underwear. He frowned down at Kaoru, and Kaoru opened his eyes all the way blushing as he tried to push his brother off. "I can't sleep, you have to tell me," Hikaru said in a sort of whine. Kaoru shook his head and gave up getting his brother to get off. Hikaru sat there pouting, but Kaoru didn't care. He wouldn't give in to his brother's sad, puppy dog eyes act. It was the same one Kaoru used on him when he wanted something. He decided to just ignore his brother and try to get back to sleep. _Maybe he'll go away if I ignore him long enough that he gets tired._

But even after a few minutes the weight on him hadn't moved. It had actually gotten less in one spot, like Hikaru had spread out over top of him. And sure enough, Kaoru soon felt light breathing on his neck. It gave him goose bumps, and made the butterfly's come back as his face got hot. He snapped his eyes open and saw Hikaru staring at him closely. He smiled at him. "Are you going to tell me yet?" he asked.

"No," Kaoru said in an annoyed mumble. Hikaru shifted his body so his face was directly above Kaoru's.

"Why?" he asked pouting as Kaoru get redder. Kaoru was sure it was a noticeable red now. "Why is your face getting all red? You're not sick are you?" Hikaru asked. Kaoru shook his head for both things. That he wasn't telling him again, and that he wasn't sick. Hikaru sighed and moved down a little again, and then placed his mouth right by Kaoru's ear. "Will you tell me now?" he asked in a whisper.

"No," Kaoru said, but this time it came out as a squeak. He wished Hikaru would just leave him alone. It was a feeling he didn't think he'd ever feel towards Hikaru. He may act mad when his twin is pestering him, but he always enjoyed it a little without letting it show. This he didn't enjoy.

"All you have to do is tell me and I'll leave you alone," Hikaru told him still by his ear. A shiver went through Kaoru's body that Hikaru felt and he laughed. "I want to know Kaoru, please tell me," he said. His eyes were getting heavy now, and he slid down so his head could rest on Kaoru chest.

"Why should I tell you?" Kaoru asked watching as his brother closed his eyes.

"Because I'm your brother," he mumbled.

"That's not good enough," Kaoru told him.

"Because," he said his voice hardly loud enough to notice now. "I love you."

Tears filled Kaoru's eyes. Those were the words he always wanted to hear through his brother's mouth, but not in this way. He didn't want them said in the way that meant 'I love you because you're my brother', he wanted the words to mean more than that.

"I love you too," Kaoru said in almost a whisper. He said the words in the way he wanted to hear them from Hikaru. He said them with more than just a meaning of brotherly love. He hadn't meant to say those them like that though, it just slipped out. But he wasn't sure if Hikaru had even heard them. Kaoru let out a soft sigh and watched his brother sleeping peacefully for a few seconds before his own eyelids forced themselves over his teary eyes. Soon he was sleeping.


	17. The Truth

Kaoru woke with a start as he heard the bedroom door open and the maids call for him and his brother. Kaoru sat up quickly knocking Hikaru off of him. Hikaru hit the floor with a thud and groaned as he sat up frowning at his brother. "Sorry to disturb you masters Hitachiin, but breakfast is ready and your mother said you were spending the day together and wanted an early start," one of the maids said bowing in the direction of where Kaoru's head had just appeared over the couch.

"We'll be right down," Kaoru told her and then yawned. Her and the other maid bowed again and left the room.

Kaoru got off the couch and stepped over his brother heading to their closet to get some clothes on. "Just because I fell asleep doesn't mean you're off the hook," Hikaru told Kaoru rubbing his head where he'd hit it, and stood up.

"Off the hook for what?" Kaoru asked playing dumb as he started to get dressed.

"You know what, it's too early for you to act like this towards me," he said yawning and joining his brother to get a pair for clothes. Kaoru stepped away from the closet to give him room, and Hikaru looked at him raising an eyebrow but didn't say anything.

The two of them got dressed and headed down the hallway towards the stairs. They walked in silence not really knowing what to talk about. It was too early in the morning for any kind of noise. That was until Kaoru let out a slight yelp. Hikaru had suddenly pushed him through an open door into a spare bed room. "You need to tell me Kaoru, it's killing me!" Hikaru yelled closing the door behind him and leaning his back against it so Kaoru couldn't get out. Kaoru took a quick scan of the room seeing that he'd have to think things through carefully if he didn't want to have to jump through the window just so he didn't have to tell Hikaru what's been bugging him.

"I can tell you something," Kaoru said. "What do you want me to tell you?"

"You know perfectly well what I want you to tell me," Hikaru said glaring at him.

"I do?" Kaoru asked making himself sound confused, although his acting wasn't very good.

"Don't play this game with me, Kaoru," Hikaru growled.

Kaoru sighed and sat down on the bed trying to think of something quickly. _Maybe I'll have to tell him...No, I can't, this is wrong._ Kaoru looked up and stared at Hikaru. "Nothing's bugging me. That was yesterday. I've already forgotten about what it was even," he told Kaoru smiling. Hikaru let out an angry sigh.

"Kaoru I can see through your fake tone and smile," Hikaru told him. "You're just insulting me now if you think I'll fall for it." Kaoru looked away from him and bit his lip. He opened his mouth to say something when there was a knock on the door and a girl's voice.

Hikaru jumped a little in surprise and moved away from the door letting the person come in. Kaoru looked up to see who it was too, and found Rose walking through the door. "Hello, what are you doing?" she asked smiling sweetly.

"Nothing, I just needed to talk to Kaoru about something," Hikaru told her smile. She blushed.

"Maybe I should go?" she asked.

"Oh no, please stay! It's not liked you're interrupting anything important," Kaoru told her quickly jumping to his feet and opening the door more for her. Rose's blush deepened.

"What happened to you not liking her?" Hikaru hissed at Kaoru sending shivers down Kaoru's spine as he stepped away from Rose and the door.

"That doesn't mean I'm not going to be nice to her," Kaoru said in a whisper back. Rose looked from Hikaru to Kaoru blinking in confusion.

"But you don't have to go to breakfast?" She asked them.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot how hungry I was!" Kaoru told her trying to sound grateful and shocked, although he wasn't doing a very good job at it. "Thank you Rose." Hikaru rolled his eyes at him. But thanked Rose nicely too pushing past her and Kaoru to go into the hallway.

"Are you sure I was not interrupting? Hikaru is angry," Rose said looking back over her shoulder at him.

"It wasn't anything important. He's always grumpy like this in the mornings anyways," Kaoru told her and thanked her again, although this thank you was for saving him. But he didn't tell her that part.

After going down to breakfast without talking, Hikaru and Kaoru hurried up to their moms work room. They were going to help her with the clothing she wanted to test out with the Host Club for their Cosplay. They spent most of their day with their mom in mostly an awkward silence which she tried to break once in a while by bringing up school and her work. But those didn't last long. Half way through their day when they went down to lunch she even tried to talk to them asking them what was wrong, but that conversation instantly ended when they told her that they were just up late and still tired.

They finished the clothes after dinner. Hikaru and Kaoru had already been fitted into theirs, and now all they had to do was bring them to school to have the others fitted so they could make adjustments and be ready for their Cosplay. The twins and their mom were an unstoppable force when they put their minds to making clothing and worked together. Everything they had made together was perfect in their eyes.

The twins entered their room and instantly collapsed on different chairs by the TV. They were tired from getting hardly any sleep the night before, and spending the day with their mom making clothing, plus they still had to get some homework done before they went to bed. Hikaru turned on their giant screen TV with a tired groan. Then let his hand hang limp over the armrest and the remote hit the floor. "We should probably turn off the TV and get to work," Kaoru told him yawning. He'd instantly fallen asleep when he hit the couch, and was awoken with a start from the sound of the TV and remote.

"We've been working all day," Hikaru told him yawning too. "Take a break for once. We still have tomorrow."

"I want to get it over with so we have time for other things," Kaoru mumbled sounding as if he was falling asleep again.

"Don't be stupid, you're barely awake," Hikaru told him as he turned the volume on the TV down hoping if it was quiter Kaoru would fall asleep faster.

"I'm fine," Kaoru told him still mumbling, and let out a yawn. "I'm just resting my eyes."

"That's what they all say," Hikaru laughed. Kaoru mumbled something too quiet to hear, and then the room went very quiet.

Hikaru got up from his chair a few minutes later and went over to Kaoru. He shook him a little, but he didn't move. Hikaru sighed and picked his twin brother up off the chair to carry him to a much comfier bed. He helped him out of his cloths, being sure not to wake him, and then put him under the covers. Hikaru sat at the foot of the bed staring at Kaoru for a while, not really keeping track of the time, and then sighed. He moved over to his side of the bed and sat there cross legged looking at the peaceful boy. He felt a little bad for what he was about to do, but he had to. It was the only way he'd find out what Kaoru was hiding from him.

A few years before Hikaru had found something out about his brother. He talked in his sleep. Hikaru had found this out one night when he was bored and was having one of those nights where no matter what he did he couldn't fall asleep. Kaoru was mumbling in his sleep about something and Hikaru couldn't really hear him. At first he thought that his younger brother was awake and talking to him, so he told Kaoru to say whatever he did again because he didn't hear him. The second time Kaoru said what he did a little louder, but still barely enough to hear, and Hikaru realized that he wasn't talking to him. He was talking angrily in his sleep to Tamaki for something stupid he'd done. After that incident, Hikaru had found himself talking back to Kaoru on off nights like that one. He'd always pretend to be someone else, and have some fun with what Kaoru's reaction was for some of the things he said or told him he was going to do. He always had a lot of fun with it, but it would end whenever he started to get too loud and notice Kaoru stirring. And now, he was going to talk to him again for the first time in months.

Hikaru let out another sigh and moved his hand through Kaoru's hair. He felt like he was taking the cheap way out, and he didn't even know if it would work. He hadn't heard Kaoru talking in his sleep for a long time. And if it did he didn't know what he'd do with his new information. But it was killing him, and if Kaoru was too stubborn to tell him when he was wake than he was going to have to tell him while he was asleep.

Hikaru moved his head closer to Kaoru's ear. "Hey, Kaoru?" he asked in a whisper. Kaoru groaned a little. "It's Hikaru, I want to talk to you about something," he told him. Kaoru stirred a little, and Hikaru froze. But Kaoru didn't wake up. Hikaru let out a soft sigh of relief and sat up a little. "What aren't you telling me, Kaoru, I want to know," Hikaru told him in a louder whisper biting his lip. Kaoru mumbled something, and Hikaru had to ask him to repeat himself.

"I can't tell you," Kaoru told Hikaru in a mumble that he had to lean in to hear.

"Why can't you tell me?" Hikaru asked him.

"I just can't," he mumbled.

Hikaru let out an angry growl. Even in his sleep Kaoru was still protecting whatever it was that he couldn't tell him. It made Hikaru mad. _What's so important to him, and bad, that he can't even tell me in his sleep!? He's always so honest with me when he's sleeping!_ Hikaru took a deep breath to calm down. "There has to be more to it then you just can't," Hikaru told his twins sleeping self.

"You'll think of me differently, probably in disgust, and you'll treat me differently," Kaoru mumbled to him.

"What makes you say that?" Hikaru asked biting his lip. At least he was getting somewhere with Kaoru now.

"I just know," Kaoru told him.

"How do you know? Tell me, Kaoru. I'm your brother you can tell me anything and I won't think of you any differently. It doesn't matter what it is. I'm here for you, Kaoru. Just tell me! It's killing me inside knowing you can't tell me something!" Hikaru had gotten louder as he was talking without noticing it. Kaoru stirred again and Hikaru flinched a little. He was sure Kaoru would wake up now. His outburst was definitely too loud for him to sleep through.

Kaoru woke up slowly with a groan. All he could remember was wanting to get up to do his homework, so of course he was surprised when he noticed he was laying on something much more comfortable than his chair and he was in his underwear. What he did know though was someone had been yelling and that's what had woke him up. He opened his eyes slowly and his heart jumped a little when he noticed someone leaning over him. He blinked and saw that it was Hikaru sitting frozen. "H-Hikaru, what's wrong? Why were you yelling?" he asked. Hikaru blinked at him, and then sat up straight.

"No reason, I was just having a little fun," he lied smiling his devilish smile.

"What kind of fun?" Kaoru asked a little annoyed. "Is it the kind of fun that wakes me up in the middle of the night for no reason?"

"You could say that I guess," he told Kaoru getting up off the bed and walking over to the closet. He hadn't changed out of his clothes yet.

"What were you yelling about anyways?" Kaoru asked him sitting up slowly and rubbing his eyes.

"Nothing," Hikaru responded a little too quickly. Kaoru pouted a little, he wanted to know what was so important that Hikaru was yelling it at him to try and get him up. And that was when Kaoru went wide-eyed and looking at his older brother.

Kaoru had suddenly remembered his dream, although he hadn't really forgotten in it. It wasn't one of his usual ones, which were more like nightmares, which he'd been having lately. He had actually been talking to Hikaru in this one. Hikaru wasn't going away, there was no Rose, and they were actually having a conversation. Talking about what all his other dreams were about. It was more like a redo of the night before when Hikaru had been trying to get him to tell him what was wrong. Actually, it was exactly like the night before. Hikaru was trying to get him tell him what was wrong, but he wouldn't, and then Hikaru yelled at him. It was like Hikaru had found his way into his dream to try and get the information that way, but had obviously failed and gotten mad.

Hikaru walked back over to his side of the bed and sat back down, Kaoru watching him with wide-eyes the whole way. "What?" Hikaru asked as he got under the covers of the bed.

"You were trying to take a cheap shot, weren't you?" Kaoru asked in a surprised, yet equally angry tone.

"What are you talking about?" Hikaru asked with a yawn trying to act confused.

"You tried to get me to tell you what was wrong through my dream didn't you?" Kaoru asked. "I knew you could talk to me while I was asleep and manipulate my dreams. You did it so often before that I even caught you doing it twice pretending to be Tamaki and Haruhi in them talking to me. I just didn't say anything about it because those were fun dreams for me too! But I never would have thought you'd try and use this against me!"

Hikaru looked away from Kaoru ashamed. He knew he shouldn`t have tried it, and that it was wrong to do it. But he just had to know. And now that Kaoru knew, he was even madder at him than he was before. Hikaru slid down the bed and laid facing away from Kaoru. He didn`t want to look at him after what had just happened, and Kaoru probably didn`t want to look at him either. "I just really wanted to know," Hikaru told him in a whisper even though he knew that wasn't going to help him any. "I'm sorry."

"I know you want to know, but I can't tell you," Kaoru told him. Hikaru glanced over at him. He hadn't expected him to say anything at all back.

"Why can't you, besides what you already told me," Hikaru asked although he still didn't expect Kaoru to answer let alone want to have a conversation on this again.

"I don't have another reason," Kaoru told him. Hikaru sighed and looked away from him again pulling up the covers more.

"That's too bad," Hikaru mumbled. "Maybe if you had more reasons I wouldn't feel the need to bug you about it."

Kaoru sat there staring at Hikaru for a few minutes before looking away at his hands. "Is it really bugging you that much?" he asked, although he wasn't sure Hikaru was even awake anymore. Hikaru moved a little beside him, and Kaoru glanced over to see that he was nodding his head. "I'm sorry," Kaoru told him. Hikaru moved more now, and Kaoru saw that he'd rolled over to face him. He was clearly interested in where he though Kaoru was going with this. Kaoru shook his head. "I-I can't," Kaoru told him in a very quiet whisper.

"What if I promised I won't think badly of you, and if it is something that's as bad as you think it is I'll forget about it. You know I have horrible memory anyways," Hikaru told him grinning. Kaoru gave a little chuckle.

"I don't think you'll be able to forget this," he told him smiling weakly.

"Well you've gotten me even more interested now. It's your fault I want to know so badly, you know. You know I always want to figure out peoples secrets no matter what," Hikaru told him. Kaoru nodded as his smile faded.

"But if I tell you and everything goes the way I think it'll go, you'll run off with Rose and never want to speak to me again," he told him clutching the blanket hard in his hand.

"What if I promise I won't run off with Rose, and I will speak to you no matter what? I'm not going to let a girl come between us again. Not like I did with Haruhi," Hikaru told him moving his hand and placing it on Kaoru knee.

"Can you promise you won't go after Rose anymore?" Kaoru asked looking away from Hikaru towards the door.

"I still don't get what me liking Rose has to do with anything. You said you don't like her the way I do," Hikaru reminded him. He was confused again and couldn't understand what Kaoru was trying to get at. _Does he know something about Rose I don't? Something that if he tells me he doesn't think I'll believe him, and that I'll leave?_

"I don't like Rose the way you do, but she still has a lot to do with this," Kaoru said biting his lip. He didn't expect Hikaru to agree to this term, and if he didn't it was better for him. It meant he didn't have to go on and tell him the truth.

Hikaru took a few seconds before letting out a loud sigh. "Fine, I won't try to go after Rose anymore. It probably wouldn't work out between us anyways," Hikaru said in a slightly sad tone. Kaoru snapped his head towards Hikaru.

"You're giving up on her that easily?" he asked a little too loudly and surprised. Hikaru nodded.

"I care about you way more than her. Besides, she's not that great at Japanese, and I'm never going to be good at English. It would never work out," he said smiling.

"Why didn't you give up on her sooner than?" Kaoru asked. He was starting to get really annoyed with Hikaru.

"Because I wanted to have some fun while someone new was around I guess. I didn't know it would make you this mad though. You should know me better than that. It was obvious I was just fooling around," Hikaru laughed turning his smile into a grin. "Now come on, I promised I wouldn't go after her anymore. So you have to tell me your big secret now, or are there more conditions?" Kaoru tuned a slight red, and looking away shaking his head. "So tell me," Hikaru said sounding triumphant, which Kaoru didn't like very much.

"I..." Kaoru said trailing off. _How could I be so stupid and forget what Hikaru is really like? How could I fall into his trap so easily? He didn't really like Rose that much in the first place. Why didn't I see that? Of course it's easy for him to give her up! It was easy for him to give Haruhi up too after he had his fun!_

"I'm waiting Kaoru," Hikaru said sweetly laughing and then gave him an evil smirk.

"I..." Kaoru trailed off again. He was just going to have to say it now. "I love you," Kaoru barely said. Hoping Hikaru hadn't heard him. But Hikaru was ready for it and was straining to hear him before he even said it.


	18. I Love You

"I love you too Kaoru," Hikaru told him sounding a little disappointed at the big secret as he sat up. "But that's not the kind of thing you have to hide from me, we're brothers. I tell you that almost every night." Kaoru shifted a little uncomfortably.

"I...I don't mean it the way you always say it," Kaoru mumbled moving away from Hikaru who'd suddenly seemed to be a little too close. Hikaru gave him a confused look.

"Well how else could you mean it?" he asked moving closer.

"I mean it in a way that's...that's a very wrong way," Kaoru said moving farther away. He wouldn't be able to face Hikaru again after this was all out. "A way that isn't brotherly at all," he was getting quieter and quieter as he spoke. He was still moving away from Hikaru a little bit at a time feeling the edge of the bed getting closer and closer. If Hikaru kept coming towards him like he was he'd end up falling off the bed.

"I still don't understand what you mean," Hikaru told him closing the small space between them quickly now so he was almost sitting on Kaoru. Kaoru jumped and moved over more losing his balance. He let out a little squeak and hit the floor dragging a blanket with him, one leg still hanging onto the bed. Hikaru laughed.

"How do you still not get it?" Kaoru asked sounding a little annoyed now. _Is he just playing with me again?_

"I don't know," Hikarutold him sounding seductive now. "You'll have to explain it better." He was now laying across the bed with one elbow on the edge of it and his head resting on his hand. He was using his other hand to rub Kaoru's foot while staring absentmindedly at it.

Kaoru blushed and moved his foot off the bed. Hikaru laughed and smirked down at him. "T-This is serious, Hikaru, d-don't tease me like that," Kaoru told him trying to sound angry, but he ended up squeaking. His heart was racing and butterflies were fluttering madly in his stomach as he slowly got redder. _How can he act so calm and normal when I'm finally telling him something like this?_

"I know it's serious, Kaoru, but you should know that I don't like serious situations much," he told him frowning down at him. "So you better hurry up and help me understand this all."

"I'm sure you understand everything perfectly," Kaoru mumbled angrily crossing his arms.

"What was that?" Hikaru asked smirking. "Did you say you want me to come down there? Well alright, if that'll help you tell me quicker." Kaoru turned another shade of red and looked away as he heard Hikaru laugh slightly, and felt him slid off the bed right on top of him. "So, what do you mean by love?" he asked sounding serious, but Kaoru knew better than to trust his ears. Hikaru was a good actor after all.

"You know," Kaoru mumbled.

Kaoru began to breathe harder and started to feel a little panicked. He could feel Hikaru's breath on his face. He was so close. Not that this was unusual for the two of them. But the situation was different now. Kaoru looked at Hikaru's face out of the corner of his eye, and realized that doing this was a good thing. Hikaru was so close that if Kaoru would have turned his head their lips would have been almost touching making it impossible for him to bring himself to talk anymore. "What if I don't know?" Hikaru asked Kaoru is a whisper.

A shiver ran down Kaoru's spine. Hikaru had moved his head so his mouth was right by his ear now, and he was breathing hard on it. "T-Then, I guess I have to explain better," Kaoru squeaked again swallowing hard.

"And what if I do know?" Hikaru asked sending another shiver down Kaoru's spine.

"T-Then I would want to know why you're toying with me," Kaoru told him biting his lip. He saw what looked like a smirk out of the corner of his eye.

"Because it's fun to see your reactions to things," Hikarutold him sounding seductive again. Kaoru saw him move his head down, and the next think he knew Hikaru was kissing his neck. Kaoru let out a sharp gasp and Hikaru laughed. "But," he said moving so he was propping himself up on his hands, his face over top Kaoru's head. "You still haven't answered my first question."

Kaoru looked up at Hikaru and pouted a little. His heart, stomach, everything, was still going crazy and he wanted desperately for Hikaru to go back to what he was doing. Kaoru opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it. He had to think about what he was going to say first. He didn't want to say something wrong. Kaoru took a deep breath. "W-When I say love," Kaoru started in a whisper. He couldn't bring himself to get any louder, and he hoped Hikaru was listening. "I mean I want what we do at the Host Club to be real. I don't want it to just be an act. And I want to...to do more than that stuff too. I mean that I can't handle it when I see you with someone else, especially a girl, and don't want to have to see you as my brother. I want to be more to you than that. You can't love your brother in the way I want." Kaoru had tears threatening to escape his eyes, and he had to look away from Hikaru again to get rid of them.

Hikaru looked at Kaorufor a few seconds and then gave a little chuckle. Kaoru looked back at him glaring. "What's so funny?" he asked angrily.

"Nothing, I'm sorry. Don't get mad at me," Hikaru said grinning. Kaoru raised an eyebrow at him. "It's just that I always thought you knew," Hikaru told him his smile fading. "Maybe I wasn't doing things right."

"Knew what? Not doing what things right?" Kaoru asked. He was completely confused now, and though his heart was still pounding the butterflies were gone and he was no longer blushing.

"I thought you knew that everything I did at the Host Club _was_ real. I've been trying forever to try and get you to see how _I_felt through the things we did there. I even tried to make you jealous twice, and obviously it worked, but I was doing something wrong because you never got it. Then I just thought you did and were ignoring it so I stopped trying. I thought I was making it painfully obvious, because even Mori and Hunny said something about it, but I guess I wasn't doing it right for you to see. I'm sorry to put you through all this," Hikaru told Kaoru letting out a long sigh and hanging his head. Kaoru went wide-eyed.

"You mean I could have had you a long time ago?" he asked beating himself up inside.

"You've always had me, Kaoru, you just didn't do anything with me," Hikaru told him looking up into his eyes. Kaoru blushed. "I love you, Kaoru," Hikaru told him, and the butterflies came back. Hikaru had finally said it exactly the way he wanted him to but never had. Or maybe he had said it that way before and he'd just refused to notice.

"I love you too, Hikaru," Kaoru whispered reaching his arms up and wrapping them around Hikaru's neck pulling. Hikaru let him pull him down until their lips touched, and they were both sent into another world neither wanting to break the deep, passionate, kiss they both had longed for.

There was a knock at the door, and they both jumped breaking the kiss. They were breathing hard when the door opened and their two morning maids walked in. The maids froze in the door way as they registered what they were seeing. Hikaru was on top of Kaoru only inches away from him looking at the maids frozen in place, and Kaoru was leaning his head back to see them with one hand in Hikaru's hair and the other still around his neck. They were both in nothing but their underwear. Both maids were struggling for words, but it was the older one that said something first. "Breakfast is done, masters! Sorry for interrupting!" she blurted out and then grabbed the younger maid's hand dragging her off closing the door behind them.

Hikaru and Kaoru both stayed where they were staring at the door for what seemed like forever. Finally they looked back at each other laughing. Hikaru bent back down giving Kaoru another kiss, this one shorter, before sitting up. He took Kaoru's arms off of his neck, and placed then beside him. Kaoru instantly crossed his arms and pouted as Hikaru got off him. "What's wrong now?" Hikaru asked as he walked over to their closet.

"Nothing," he said with a sigh getting up off the floor. Now that he knew he had Hikaru and he finally got what he'd been craving, he didn't want to just end it because some maids had walked in on them.

Kaoru walked over to Hikaru and wrapped his arms around his neck from behind resting his head on his back. Hikaru laughed. "I missed you wanting to be around me," he said searching through the closet for something to wear.

"I always wanted to be around you," Kaoru mumbled. He was still tired from two nights with hardly any sleep, and he couldn't imagine how Hikaru felt since he'd had even less sleep staying up all last night.

"Then how come you were pushing me away from you?" he asked taking two shirts out knowing what Kaoru would want to wear.

"Because I was scared you'd find out and hate me," Kaoru told him. "The nightmares I was having, and Rose made me almost slip up and a few times."

"Well maybe you should have slipped up instead of putting us both through all this," Hikaru told him flinging a shirt and a pair of pants over his shoulder and hitting Kaoru on the head with them. Kaoru groaned and let go of Hikaru, grabbing the clothes and backing away so he could put them on.

"What do you think the maids thought?" Kaoru asked as he slid slowly into his pants yawning.

"I'm sure they thought it was a joke or something," Hikaru told him putting a shirt on and yawning too.

"What are you going to tell Rose?" Kaoru asked curious of how things were going to start to play out.

"You'll see," Hikaru told him. And even though his back was still towards him, Kaoru could sense Hikaru smirking.

Hikaru and Kaoru walked down the hallways towards their dining room holding hands absentmindedly. They came to a corner, and a door slammed open in front of them making them jump backwards in surprise. Kaoru lost his balance and fell towards the floor dragging Hikaru along with him. They both groaned and looked up to see who had opened the door in such a hurry.

Rose was standing in front of them with her hands over her mouth looking completely shocked. "I am sorry!" she yelled reaching both hands out to help the two boys up.

"It's ok Rose," Hikaru and Kaoru said together grabbing her hands and pulling themselves up almost bringing her down in the process. "Why were you in such a hurry?"

"I heard someone coming. I was taking a break I should not have, and did not want to get caught," she told them bowing her head in shame.

"It's ok, Rose, we won't tell the other staff members," the two boys said together.

"You just miss home and having a lot of leisure time, right?" Hikaru asked her. Rose nodded slowly, probably unsure of what the last thing he said was.

"Maybe it's time for you to go home," Kaoru told her. She looked up at him and Hikaru.

"Are you sure? I was going to go two days ago, but I saw that something was wrong and wanted to help. I would not want to leave knowing my good friends here are angry," she told them frowning. "That's why I was so sorry yesterday. I thought maybe I was interrupting time you need to make up."

"We're fine now, really," Hikaru told Rose smiling and putting an arm around Kaoru's shoulder. Kaoru nodded and leaned into him smiling too.

"I don't think we'll be fighting anymore. And if we do it won't be very big or for long," he told her.

"Do you promise this?" she asked them. They both nodded and Rose's face lit up. "This is good. I can go home knowing you are fine," she told them. "May I walk with you downstairs?" Hikaru and Kaoru nodded, and Rose fell into step beside Hikaru.

The three of them got downstairs where a few of the maids were talking with Hikaru and Kaoru's parents. Hikaru and Kaoru stopped walking once they reached the last step, and Rose went quickly over to her mother. Hikaru and Kaoru sat down on the big steps as Rose, her mother, Yuzuha, and her husband talked quickly making it hard for Kaoru to make out even the few things he heard, because they were in English too. But from what he did hear he guessed they were talking about Rose going home. Kaoru was even more convinced that this was what they were talking about when Rose's mom broke into tears and pulled her into a hug that she seemed to not want to end. Yuzuha put her hand on Rose's mom's back and said something to her before turning and walking with her husband towards Hikaru and Kaoru.

Hikaru and Kaoru looked away from their parents and down at their hands, which were in their laps, when they saw them turn and head towards them. Their mom took a seat beside Kaoru, and their dad took one beside Hikaru. "So, Rose says she wants to go home," Yuzuha told them. They nodded in unison. "Do you know why she had the sudden change?" she asked.

"She told us she's homesick," the twins said together.

"Why didn't she want to leave before?" she asked them. They both bit their lips.

"What's been going on, boys?" their dad asked. They glanced up at him and then looked back down at their hands.

"She was concerned about some disagreements lately and didn't want to leave thinking Hikaru, and I, were fighting," Kaoru told his parents choosing his words carefully before Hikaru could say anything.

"Fighting about what?" Yuzuha asked him.

"Nothing big," Hikaru assured her knowing Kaoru wouldn't be able to lie as good as he could. "Just stupid little things like going to school and stuff when Kaoru wasn't feeling well." Yuzuha nodded but seemed a little unsure.

"So, um, there's another thing your father and I wanted to talk to you two about," she said trailing off at the end as if she was fighting to find the right words. Hikaru and Kaoru looked up at her. "Well, um, the maids that wake you up in the morning said they walking in on you two, well, you know," she said trailing off again at the end. She sounded as if this was a very uncomfortable topic for her. Hikaru and Kaoru both turned a very light shade of pink and tried to do a convincing laugh like the one they did after pulling a prank.

"That probably wasn't what they thought it was," Kaoru told her acting embarrassed.

"Yeah, Kaoru was having another bad dream, he's been having a lot lately," Hikaru told her. Kaoru hit him, hard. "Ouch! What was that for, it's true!" he said playing along. They now had to rely on their group acting skills to make this seem as true as possible. Flat out lying wouldn't work now. No matter how good Hikaru was at it.

"That doesn't mean you have to tell everyone!" Kaoru said in a whinny voice. Hikaru shook his head at him.

"As I was saying, he was having a bad dream. So I was trying to wake him up. But I must have scared him because he jumped and moved sideways, and started to fall off the bed. So he panicked and grabbed me, but I wasn't ready for it and we both ended up falling off the bed. That's when the maids walked in," Hikarulaughed and gave Kaoru, who was now avoiding eye contact with everyone and blushing, a little shove. He mumbled something under his breath that no one could hear, and Yuzuha giggled a little.

"Well that's a relief," she told them. Their dad nodded. "Not that we believed what the maids were telling us, but we still wanted to get your story," she said laughing and standing up. "Well, I'm hungry, what about you?" Yuzuha asked looking at her husband. He nodded and stood up following her to the dining room.

Kaoru waited until he couldn't hear his parent's footsteps before he looked up. "You didn't have to make up a story that made me look bad," he told Hikaru pouting.

"Well it was either a well thought out lie that just _had_to be the truth, a really crappy lie that you thought up and they'd never believe, only leading to more questions, or the actual truth," he told Kaoru wrapping his arms around him and pulling him into a hug. Kaoru didn't say anything. He just leaned into Hikaru because he knew that what he said was true.

Rose came over to them with her mom and few, long, seconds later smiling. The twins looked up at them not bothering to move out of the position they were in on the stairs. "My mother has agreed to come back with me to England as a maid for my house," Rose announced to them happily. "We are leaving tonight on your airplane that your parents are allowing us to use."

"That's great Rose," the twins said together smiling back at her.

"It is even greater that I am leaving knowing you two are ok," she told them. "I will miss you, and only wish I could have gotten to be with Kaoru more. You are both very nice, and it is sad that I only got to spend time with Hikaru because you were sick." Rose frowned at Kaoru. "Maybe you will come visit me in England?" she asked both of them. Hikaru laughed.

"We'd haveto improve on our English first," he told her. Kaoru looked at him with a slight glare.

"_You_would haveto improve on your English. Mine's good enough for a week or two stay," he told him, although he didn't like the idea of going to see Rose in England. There was no telling what she'd try to do with Hikaru there. Hikaru glared back at him.

Rose giggled. "You two are very funny," she told them. He mother nodded in agreement. Hikaru looked back at Rose.

"So, uh, Rose. There's something I wanted to talk to you about," he told her letting go of Kaoru and standing up. Kaoru let a smirk go, he knew what was coming and had been waiting for it since they left their room. Rose looked at him in confusion for a few seconds before going wide-eye in, what seemed like to the twins, was realization.

"Oh, Hikaru, please don't. My mother has informed me in how she saw how you feel about me, and I am sorry but I must stop you here," she told him quickly before he could continue. "You see the maids have been talking, and that is how she found out. I had not really notice. I just thought you were friendly towards me, but they say that is not right." Rose took a deep breath and looked deeply and intensely into Hikaru eyes. "I am sorry Hikaru but, I am engaged to be married to a lovely man back home. You remind me of him very much, so I hope we can stay friends. I am sorry if I have disappointed or hurt you by this," she told him clutching the hem on her dress.

Hikaru stood there staring at her for a few seconds letting what Rose had just said process. "Uh, yeah, sure, of course we can stay friends Rose," he managed to get out. Rose smiled at him.

"I am glad," she told him and then looked around him at Kaoru. "I hope you do choose to visit. You both would love my fiancé very much." Kaoru just nodded and her. Then she turned to her mother who smiled down at her and patted her on the head before they walked away with the other maids leaving the room.

Hikaru sat back down on the stairs with his eyes wide and mouth gaping. "I-I think I just got rejected," he said. Kaoru burst out laughing not able to help himself anymore.

"I feel kind of bad for hating her now," he said between laughs as he rubbed the tears forming in his eyes.

"Oh shut up!" Hikaru yelled pushing Kaoru over who just continued to laugh.

When he was done Kaoru propped himself up on his elbows taking deep breaths his sides hurting. "At least you apparently got blown off for someone exactly like you," he told Hikaru grinning, "except for the fact that he most likely speaks English."

"Shut up," Hikaru said still feeling the sting of getting rejected by Rose before he could reject her.

"Oh cheer up, at least you didn't have to break her heart," Kaoru told him sitting up and wrapping his arms around Hikaru's neck. "And you still have me, so it shouldn't be that bad." Hikaru looked over at him.

"Should you really be hanging onto me like that in a wide open room?" he asked. Kaoru smiled.

"Who cares, no one's around. They're all eating," he told him. Hikaru smirked.

"Well when you put it that way," he said twisting his body so he was completely facing Kaoru. Kaoru raised an eyebrow and him, and Hikaru put his hands on Kaoru's waist. Then he brought his face closer to his and kissed him on the lips leaning forward as he did so Kaoru's back hit the step and Hikaru was laying on top of him.

"Now this we shouldn't be doing in an open room," Kaoru told him when Hikaru pulled away. "Someone could come out at any time and see us."

"What are you talking about? I just fell down the stairs, hurt by rejection, and landed on you," he told him grinning and kissing him on the neck. Kaoru let out a gasp.

"You're such an idiot," he said.

"Yeah, but I'm your idiot now," he told him as he kissed his way back up to Kaoru's lips, leading into another deep, passionate, kiss making both their worries just disappear, and everything seem right.

**The End**

* * *

**Well it's over now, I'm kind of sad to have to end this. This was probably the funnest story to write out of all the ones I've done so far, but I didn't want to keep dragging it on like my Sand School story. Sure it's great to be able to just keep going with something, but you run out of ideas for it eventually.**

**Anyways, I'm happy for whoever stuck with in until the end, and I hope you liked the ending. I'm glad so many of you really got into my own character Rose. It makes me happy as a writer to know that I can make a character that pulls so many different reactions out of people, and maybe after this ending you don't hate her as much...? No...no change?^^; Yeah I still hate her myself for doing that to the twins. **

**So thanks again for reading this, and for all your feedback and comments. I hope some of you take the time to check out my other stories, maybe you'll fall in love with Naruto and Harry Potter too? You don't have to though...xD**


End file.
